Edson Arantes do Nascimento (known as Pele), is known as the best soccer player to ever play. He first learned how to play soccer from his father, Dondinho, who played for the Fluminense Football Club, which is a sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sadly his father had an injury with his leg and had to stop playing. So Pele decided to play!

 Pele was born on 23 rd October 1940 in Tres Coracoes Spouse in Brazil. He grew up on poor streets of Bauru and used a sock stuffed with newspaper and/or a grapefruit instead of a soccer ball he could not afford. Pele was then named ‘Pele’, and did not receive the nickname (‘Pele’) until his school days. He at first disliked the nickname, but the more he complained the more he was called by it. Later in his life, when he thought that the world came to know the name, he stated that God chose it for him. On his sixth birthday, Pele got his first leather soccer ball, from his father’s partner/friend, Sosa!

At the age of 11, Pele was discovered by a Brazilian legend ‘ Waldemar De Brito’ who invited Pele to the team, clube Aletico Bauru. In 1956, Pele’s mentor took Pele to the city of Sao Paulo, to try out for professional club Santos. Waldemar De Brito told the directors at club Santos that Pele would be "the greatest football player in the world"! Pele was offered to play in his first international game. He scored four goals and. became the top scorer in the league. Ten months after signing professionally, Pele became part of the Brazilian national team. Pele was a striker and played in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Pele surprised everyone, scoring six goals, (including two in the championship game) to help Brazil win its first World Cup 5-2 over Sweden. He was only 17 years old, but he was already a star! At the age of 11, Pele was discovered by a Brazilian legend ‘ Waldemar De Brito’ who invited Pele to the team, clube Aletico Bauru. In 1956, Pele’s mentor took Pele to the city of Sao Paulo, to try out for professional club Santos. Waldemar De Brito told the directors at club Santos that Pele would be "the greatest football player in the world"! Pele was offered to play in his first international game. He scored four goals and. became the top scorer in the league. Ten months after signing professionally, Pele became part of the Brazilian national team. Pele was a striker and played in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Pele surprised everyone, scoring six goals, (including two in the championship game) to help Brazil win its first World Cup 5-2 over Sweden. He was only 17 years old, but he was already a star!

 What Pele does on the field that makes him so good is his movements. I like how he can control the ball, and gets open for people to kick the ball to him. I enjoy watching this player more than others because like I said Pele knows how to control the ball, and he eye coordinates, and dribbles and does some movements that can trick the person wanting to take the ball from him !

 Why did you choose to become a famous soccer player? I am interested in asking this question because I want to find out if he wanted to play because of his dad’s injury or because he was a good player.  About how many goals have you scored in all the games you played in? I want to know the answer to that because all websites I went to have different answers to them. Also, I know he scored a lot, but I want to know exactly how much!  When you had your foot injury, why did you decide to continue playing soccer? This question is fascinating to me because if I broke my foot really badly while playing football, I would stop playing it, and I would play another sport (this does not happen often, just sometimes). 

 Pele retired in 1974 but came out of retirement the year after to play in the North American Soccer/football group, he also joined the New York Cosmos, and there, played his final game on Oct. 1, 1977.

By Noor Salem 6E