Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer Pele dies aged 82

Brazilian football legend Pele has died at the age of 82. 

The football star’s death is a result of his long-time colon cancer which became worse this December. 

Pele is the only player in football history to have won the World Cup three times (1958, 1962, and 1970). In the year 2000, he was voted the “Player of the Century”. 

He scored 77 goals in 92 International matches for Brazil becoming the country’s all-time top scorer. The Guinness Books of Records put his rally in a 21-year senior career at 1,279 goals in 1,363 matches played.

In 1958, at the age of 17, he became the youngest player to appear in a World Cup tournament. 

Over the years he had suffered a serious illness. He appeared in a wheelchair at the draw of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Also, he was hospitalized due to kidney problems and underwent surgery last year to remove a tumor on the right side of his colon. 

The football star was again admitted to the hospital on November 29, 2022, with doctors announcing in December that his ontological disease had progressed and that he required fighter care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions.

Following Argentina’s win in the World Cup final, a picture appeared on Pelé’s social media account of the team lifting the trophy, and hailed the performances of Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappe, and surprise semi-finalists Morocco.

“Today, football continues to tell its story, as always, in an enthralling way,” he said. “What a gift it was to watch this spectacle of the future of our sport.”

During the World Cup in Qatar, the Brazil team unfurled a massive banner on the pitch with a picture of their most legendary player. It simply read: “Pelé!”

Source: The Telegraph.