From Edson Arantes to "Pelé": the unknown origin of the nickname of the Brazilian crack

This Thursday, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as "Pelé", died at the age of 82 after a battle with his health since the end of November at the Albert Einstein Israeli Hospital in São Paulo.

Although many of his sporting adventures and even several details of his romances and his private life are known, something that was always unclear was the origin of his nickname.

His uncle Jorge once recounted that, when Pelé was a child, they made him play as a goalkeeper, to give his rival an "advantage", since when the future Santos star came out of the goal he was unstoppable and dazzled on the courts of Três Corações, a city from Minas Gerais in Brazil.

However, Edson Arantes also surprised everyone with his skills under the three sticks, so they began to call him "Bilé", after the Vasco Da Gama goalkeeper he admired, although they mispronounced it, saying something like " Pilé", which finally resulted in Pelé. However, little Edson hated that nickname.

Born on October 23, 1940 in Minas Gerais, Edson Arantes do Nascimento began playing soccer with his neighborhood team in the São Paulo municipality of Bauru until his mother was convinced to allow him to quit his job and start his meteoric career in 1956. career at Santos.

Wearing the albinegra jersey, O Rei won one Intercontinental Champions Super Cup, two Intercontinentals, two Libertadores de América, six Brasileirãos, four Rio-São Paulo Tournaments and ten times the Paulista Championship. Even to this day he is the top scorer in the history of the São Paulo team with 643 official goals.

He lifted the Cup again in 1962 and 1970 -in 1966 they were eliminated in the first phase-, the year in which he was chosen as the best player. His World Cup record is 12 goals, but just like Diego Armando Maradona, he was never able to lift the Copa América.

In 1971, Pelé said goodbye to the national team and in 1975 he left Santos to finish his career at the New York Cosmos, in the United States, and retired permanently in 1977 having scored 1,301 goals, 775 in official matches.

Born on October 23, 1940 in Minas Gerais, Edson Arantes do Nascimento began playing soccer with his neighborhood team in the São Paulo municipality of Bauru until his mother was convinced to allow him to quit his job and start his meteoric career in 1956.