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Edson Arantes do Nascimento was one of the most iconic soccer players in the history of the sport and sadly passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday. He was better known worldwide as Pelé and is one of the all-time legends, being the only player to have won three World Cups. The Brazilian legend explained to Sky Sports, saying also that he was proud that his name Edson was inspired by American inventor Thomas Edison. His parents were inspired by the fact that he was born in the morning, and “the light arrived in the same moment I was born,” he explained. “I was very proud of this name, I was telling everybody about it.”
But what about his nickname? Later he moved to another city since his father Dondinho was also a soccer player and started to play in a new team. Here is where the famous nickname began.
“In Portuguese, when you kick the ball with the foot we say ‘Pe’, and maybe I made some mistakes, I don’t know, but my teammates started to say ‘Pe-lé’, more and more,” the Brazilian said. “I didn’t like it because my name was Edson, but it started and here I am. Anyway, my family and the ones [who] are close to me still call me Dico. That’s what they call me at home.”
Listen below and follow In Soccer We Trust: A CBS Sports Soccer Podcast where your three favorite former USMNT players cover all things related to the beautiful game.
Before his passing on December 29, Pelé had been in and out of the hospital over the last few years, dealing with various medical issues, including pain as the result of hip surgery. In January, he was discharged from the hospital after two days of cancer treatment while he had a colon tumor removed last year, undergoing chemotherapy ever since, according to Reuters. He returned to the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo on Nov. 29th for “re-evaluation of the chemotherapy treatment over the colon cancer identified in September 2021,” according…
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