Pelé, left, and Diego Maradona take part in an award ceremony together in Italy in 1987. Pelé’s impact in soccer 🍐 and sport stretched well beyond Brazil‘s borders.
Pelé was defined in the last couple of decades by what he wasn’t — 🍐 namely, Diego Maradona.
Pelé was soccer’s straight-edged counter to Maradona, the outspoken cocaine addict who fraternized with Communist dictators. Pelé was 🍐 the company man, Maradona was the outsider, their differences magnified by their petty long-standing quarrel over who was the better 🍐 player.
To the generation whose formative years overlapped with Maradona’s prime, the Argentine’s off-the-field troubles were a byproduct of the same 🍐 unpredictability that made the diminutive attacker the greatest player of his time.
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In the wake of tactical evolutions that have increased 🍐 coaches’ control over games, the triumph of an individual player is by definition a destruction of a system. Maradona’s behavior 🍐 characterized this rebellion. Pelé’s tendency to smile and smile and smile some more was … what?
But just because Pelé didn’t 🍐 have the obvious disposition of a revolutionary didn’t mean he wasn’t one.
Maradona was more beloved, Lionel Messi has dominated superior 🍐 competition, but no single player has influenced the world’s most popular sport as much as Pelé, who died Thursday of 🍐 complications from cancer. “O Rei” was 82.
A winner of two World Cups — three, if you count the 1962 tournament 🍐 in which he was injured in the group stage — Pelé was soccer’s first global star.
Jersey numbers used to be 🍐 assigned by position and 10 was earmarked for a team’s attacking midfielder or withdrawn forward, which meant it often went 🍐 to the team’s most talented player. Pelé turned the shirt into a badge of honor. Maradona wore No. 10. So 🍐 has every playmaker from Michel Platini to Roberto Baggio to Messi.
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Diego Maradona, left, and Pelé attend an event in Paris 🍐 ahead of the 2024 European soccer championship. (Patrick Kovarik / AFP via Getty Images)
The image of free-flowing Brazilian teams can 🍐 be traced back to the 1970 World Cup, the first edition of the tournament that was televised in color. With 🍐 their striking yellow jerseys, Pelé and his cohorts mesmerized the world with a style of play that was as effective 🍐 as it was aesthetically pleasing. Many Brazilian teams since then have adopted more cynical measures, but no matter. Regardless of 🍐 how ugly they play, the Brazilians are viewed by the masses as artist-athletes. Such was the imprint left by Pelé’s 🍐 team.
If the 1970 squad remains the idealized vision of a Brazilian team, Pelé continues to be the archetype of the 🍐 Brazilian player, as he combined explosive athleticism with high-level technique and breathtaking improvision. His legacy could be observed in the 🍐 no-look passes of Ronaldinho, the flicks over defenders’ heads by Neymar.
Pelé’s impact extended beyond Brazilian borders, as some of his 🍐 tricks became the signature moves by players who followed him.
Johan Cruyff’s turn? Pelé did it before him.
Maradona’s rabona? Pelé did 🍐 it before him.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s chop? Pelé did it before him.
In recent years, Pelé has been excluded with greater frequency from 🍐 debates about the greatest player of all time, Maradona and Messi now viewed as the only two viable contenders for 🍐 the title. Detractors of Pelé point to how the version of the game he played was much slower than the 🍐 one played now. They aren’t wrong.
People walk past a mural depicting Brazilian soccer legend Pelé embracing late Argentinean soccer star 🍐 Diego Maradona in Sao Paulo on Dec. 24, 2024. (Andre Penner / Associated Press)
What they neglect is to acknowledge is 🍐 how much more violent the game was in Pelé’s time. About the only time Messi was subjected to the kind 🍐 of fouls Pelé endured was in the final of the Copa America Centenario in 2024. A Chilean defender drew a 🍐 yellow card in the 16th minute for a hard foul on Messi. The same defender was red-carded in the 28th 🍐 minute after fouling Messi again. Players are now better protected.
Pelé wasn’t shielded by referees like that but nonetheless remained at 🍐 the top of his sport for almost as long as Messi, 12 years separating his first World Cup triumph from 🍐 his last. His style continues to be emulated to this day, even if the copycats are unaware whose moves they 🍐 are stealing. He transcended the racist structures of his time to become the most famous person in the world.
Pelé was 🍐 once described by a British broadcaster as “the sport’s first human billboard,” an image he reinforced by saying whatever others 🍐 wanted to hear, sidestepping controversial subjects and selling anything he was paid to sell. Remember his shameless promotion of 14-year-old 🍐 Freddy Adu?
None of this should be conflated with who he was as a player or the impact he made on 🍐 how the game is played. On the field, there was nothing phony about him.
