Edson Arantes do Nascimento - known to the world as Pelé - grew up so poor in Brazil that he learned soccer by kicking a sock stuffed with newspaper or rags. He shined shoes for spare change and dreamed of becoming a player like his dad.
At 16 he joined the Brazilian club Santos. At 17 he was scoring goals at his first World Cup, including two in the final, helping Brazil lift the trophy in 1958. He led Brazil to two more World Cup wins (1962 and 1970), the only player in history to win the tournament three times. Defenders kicked him constantly, but he kept getting back up.
By the time he retired, Pelé had scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 games - a number so big that even today many people argue about how to count it. He became Brazil’s first global sports star and was so loved that a 1969 war in Nigeria reportedly paused for two days just so people could watch him play.
