Pele: How a legend changed rules of race and class in world football

World football legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known to everyone as Pele, passed away on December 29 in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer. When we say everyone, we mean what we say, as no player in the history of football has achieved the fame and glory associated with this man.

When he was young, Pele saw his father crying after Brazil's tragic loss of the 1950 World Cup final at the Maracana Stadium. Pele, who was then ten years old, consoled his father, saying, “Dad, I will bring you the trophy.” This was exactly what happened. Pele brought the gold cup to his country three times (1958, 1962, 1970), which was a feat that no one before or after him had achieved.

Pele is credited with coining the phrase “o jogo bonito” when referring to football, which means “Beautiful Game”. As many historians of the game see, credit goes to Pele for making football the number one popular sport, especially with the start of broadcasting the World Cup matches since 1958, as well as the globalization of football through TV during and after the 1966 World Cup.

FIFA said that Pele made football an art form. The organization chose him, as did the International Olympic Committee, as the best player of the twentieth century.

Beyond football

In his book “Pele: His Life and Times”, historian Harry Harris argues that Pele was an icon for more reasons than just the game he played.

“He is one of the few human beings who have become more influential, more popular, more famous and more legendary after their glory days than during them,” Harris wrote.

Many football writers and historians believe that Pele's talent and rise to the status of a “national icon” contributed to the easing of racial barriers, not only in Brazil, but worldwide. This ascension marked the inauguration of the history of the movement of thousands of poor boys in Brazil, and their families, from areas suffocated by poverty, violence, crime and marginality to a central location, and thus upward social mobility, regardless of class or race.

Yes, Pele was not the first black player to represent the Seleçao national team, but as Brazilian journalist Mario Filho sees, unlike his predecessors, Pele did not deny his color, but rather embraced it.

“Dondinho was black, Dona Celeste was black, Grandma Ambrosina was black, Tio Jorge was black, Zoca and Maria Lúcia were black. How could he be ashamed of the color of his parents, the grandmother who had taught him to pray, the good uncle Jorge who took the salary and handed it over to his sister to pay the household expenses, the brothers he had to protect? His color was the same. He had to be black. If he wasn't black, he wouldn't be Pelé”, wrote Mario Filho in his book “The Negro in Brazilian Football”.

Although he was not infallible in many of his conversations and political stances, and indeed many of them sparked controversy in his country, Pele's biography and his rise to the rank of greatest of all times remains a milestone in the history of football, sports in general, and then the history of people themselves.

“Off the field he never gave a minute of his time, and a coin never fell from his pocket. But those of us who were lucky enough to see him play received alms of an extraordinary beauty: moments so worthy of immortality that they make us believe immortality exists”, Eduardo Galeano said of Pele in his book “Soccer in Sun and Shadow”.