Know Your Player - Pelé

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, name given as Edison on birth certificate, born 21 October 1940 – however, Pelé claims that he was born on 23 October), is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is regarded by many experts, football critics, former players, current players and football fans in general as the best player of all time. In 1999, he was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics. The same year, influential France Footballmagazine consulted their former Ballon D'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. Pelé came in first place. In 1999, Pelé was elected "Athlete of the Century" by the IOC, and was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century. In 2013 he received the FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur in recognition of his career and achievements.

According to the IFFHS, Pelé is the most successful league goal scorer in the world, with 541 league goals.[ In total Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 games, for which he was honoured by the Guinness World Records for the most career goals scored in football.[18] During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best paid athlete in the world.[19] In his native Brazil, he is hailed as a national hero, for his accomplishments in football, and for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor. In 1961, President Jânio Quadros had Pelé declared a national treasure.]During his career, he became known as "The Black Pearl" (Pérola Negra), "The King of Football" (O Rei do Futebol), "The King Pelé" (O Rei Pelé) or simply "The King" (O Rei).

Pelé began playing for Santos at 15 and the Brazil national football team at 16. He won three FIFA World Cups; 1958,1962 and 1970, the only player ever to do so, and is the all-time leading goalscorer for Brazil. He is also the record goalscorer for Santos, and led them to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores. Pelé’s electrifying play and penchant for spectacular goals made him a star around the world, and his club team Santos toured internationally in order to take full advantage of his popularity.

Since retiring in 1977, Pelé has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has undertaken various acting roles andcommercial ventures. In 2010, he was named the Honorary President of the New York Cosmos.

In February 2012, Legends 10 began handling the Pelé brand and brought all marketing and management efforts under one roof, including all intellectual property rights, global licensing, branding, endorsements, and public appearances.

The most notable area of Pelé's life since football is his ambassadorial work. In 1992, Pelé was appointed a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment.

He was awarded Brazil's Gold Medal for outstanding services to the sport in 1995; Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed him to the position of Extraordinary Minister for Sport, and he was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. During this time he proposed legislation to reduce corruption in Brazilian football, which became known as the "Pelé law." Pelé left his position in 2001 after he was accused of involvement in a corruption scandal, although nothing was proven, and it was denied by UNICEF. In 1997, Pelé received an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire from QueenElizabeth II, at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

Pelé scouted for Premier League club Fulham in 2002. He was chosen to do the draw for the qualification groups for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.

Pelé has published several autobiographies, starred in documentary and semi-documentary films, and composed musical pieces, including the entire soundtrack for the film Pelé in 1977. He appeared, alongside other footballers of the 1960s and 1970s, with Michael Caine, andSylvester Stallone, in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, about an attempted escape from a World War II German POW camp.

In 2005, Pelé received a lifetime achievement award from the BBC and, in June 2006, helped inaugurate the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, alongside supermodel Claudia Schiffer. Pelé also produced an international ad campaign for drug company Pfizer to promote Viagra and raise world awareness of erectile dysfunction.

Pelé was guest of honour at the world's oldest football club, Sheffield's 150th anniversary match vInter Milan in November 2007. Inter won 5–2 in front of an appreciative crowd of nearly 19,000 atBramall Lane. As part of his visit, Pelé opened an exhibition which included the first public showing in 40 years of the original hand-written rules of football.

In 2009, he cooperated with Ubisoft on arcade football game Academy of Champions: Soccerfor the Wii and appeared in the game as a coach to its players.[124] On FIFA 14 released in 2013, Pelé features for the Ultimate team known as Legends for the Xbox One, where game-players can acquire classic players from different eras.

On 1 August 2010, Pelé was introduced as the Honorary President of a revived New York Cosmos, aiming to field a team in Major League Soccer. On 3 August 2011, it was reported that Santos were considering bringing him out of retirement for a cameo role in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, although these rumours later turned out to be false.

In 2012, Pelé was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh for "significant contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his sporting achievements", his first such degree from a European university.

On 12 August, Pelé appeared at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, following the handover section to the next host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro.