Football world mourns passing of soccer icon Pelé

O Rei. The King. Le roi.

The football world is mourning the passing of Pelé, a three-time FIFA World Cup champion who was loved as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Still the only footballer to lift FIFA’s Jules Rimet Trophy three times, he was an ambassador for the game around the world as well as a Knight of the Order of Rio Branco and a UNESCO Champion of Sport.

He won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil at Sweden 1958, Chile 1962 and Brazil 1970.

For club and country, he scored more than 1,000 goals across all competitions and tours, most notably making his mark as the famous number 10 with Santos FC and Brazil’s national team. Along with his three FIFA World Cup titles, he won multiple league titles in Brazil as well as back-to-back continental titles (Copa Libertadores) and back-to-back Intercontinental Cups. Wrote FIFA in a 1963 match program, he was a “brilliant individualist with remarkable ball control and soccer sense.”

From 1968 to 1972, he made several trips to Canada on tour with Santos FC. He scored two goals in a 5:2 win over SSC Napoli on 28 June 1968 in Toronto, goals in back-to-back wins over Bologna FC on 23 June 1971 in Toronto and 30 June in Montréal, another goal a month later in a 1:0 win over Hannover on 30 July in Vancouver, and finally the winning goal in a 4:2 win over Toronto Metros SC on 5 July 1972 in Toronto.

After his move to the New York Cosmos in 1975, he played another four matches in Vancouver and Toronto before retiring as a North American Soccer League champion at Soccer Bowl ‘77. While his first NASL appearance in Canada was 19 July 1975 in Toronto, his first appearance as a New York player in Canada was 7 July 1975 in Vancouver, an exhibition match that drew 26,495 fans for the highest attendance of any soccer match in Canada that year.

For the record, Pelé’s Canada matches drew the highest attendance of any soccer matches in four different calendar years in the 1970s: 1971 (the win over Hannover with 22,193 fans at Empire Stadium), 1972 (the win over Metros SC with 18,529 fans at Varsity Stadium), 1975, and 1977. The biggest crowd watched his last competitive appearance in Canada on 30 June 1977, a Whitecaps’ 5:3 win over Cosmos at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Not counting the Olympic Games in Montréal, it was the highest attendance ever for a club soccer match played in Canada.

Outside his playing career, Pelé also made several visits to Canada as an ambassador for the sport. He was on hand to help open the 1974 Concacaf Juvenile Tournament in Toronto and the 1992 Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Championship in Burnaby. He took part in the ceremonies for Final at the FIFA U-16 World Tournament Canada 1987.

Pelé most recently had cancer before his death on 29 December 2022 in São Paulo. Born in Três Corações, Brazil, he was 82 year old on the day of his passing.