Pelé, the legendary Brazilian footballer and undisputed king of the sport, has died aged 82.
The former champion striker and only professional player to win three FIFA World Cups passed away after a month in hospital.
Pelé had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer and a respiratory infection caused by COVID-19 at the time of his death.
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In early December it was reported the sporting icon had been moved to palliative care in Sao Paulo after he stopped responding to chemotherapy.
However, a number of his close family members disputed the reports.
Pelé was diagnosed with cancer in September 2021.
Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on October 23, 1940, in Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Pelé was the eldest of two children to mother Celeste and father João Ramos.
João Ramos, known by his nickname Dondinho, was a professional footballer who played centre forward with Brazillian clubs Fluminense FC and Atletico Mineiro.
"The greatest goal I ever scored was a one-two with Celeste – we named him Edson Arantes do Nasciment," Dondinho said.
Pelé was named after American inventor Thomas Edison but he is best known by the nickname Pelé. He gained the nickname as a schoolboy.
"Pelé's been my nickname since I was at school in Sao Paulo, I don't know why. The kids just started to call me it and I got mad at them, I fought with them," Pelé told FourFourTwo in 2005.
"I was five years old and I was frustrated."
Pelé was just a child when his father taught him to play the sport he would one day conquer on an international stage.
As his family struggled financially, Pelé made do without a proper football.
He would kick around a grapefruit or rolled-up socks stuffed with newspaper.
Through childhood he had aspired to become a pilot, however, when he was nine he witnessed his father's despair at Brazil's defeat to Uruguay at the 1950 World Cup.
He made him a promise then and there.
"It was the first time I saw my father cry. He was devastated," Pelé recalled.
"I promised him, 'One day I will win you the World Cup.'"
Six years later, Brazilian club Santos signed the then 15-year-old Pelé. He scored four goals on debut.
"The start of it all, you know when I put on the Santos uniform, the white shirt, I wore it with affection, with a lot of love," he told the FIFA documentary Academies – Santos.
"I killed any team. When Santos came on the field, the other fans, the other team trembled."
By 1957 the then 16-year-old was given a starting place in the Santos team.
He would end the season as the competition's top goal scorer.
A year later, in 1958 Pelé was named in the national squad that headed to Sweden for the 1958 World Cup.
Many thought at just 17 he was too young to bear the expectations of a nation.
"When I went to the '58 World Cup, they thought I had a big responsibility, that it was a very difficult thing. But it was different. I wasn't too worried," Pelé said.
He considered the first goal he scored, which was against Wales, was important.
"For me, it was the goal that opened the doors for my career, no doubt," he said.
"Those goals you don't forget."
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Brazil beat home side Sweden 5-2 in the final of the World Cup. Pelé scored two goals.
The win cemented Pelé as the youngest-ever winner of a World Cup.
European clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Juventus soon circled the teenager, vying for his signature.
In 1961, Inter reportedly put forward a million-dollar bid for the striker.
Yet, a play by Brazil's then President Janio Quadros declared Pelé a national treasure to prevent him leaving the country.
"The difference in those days was that the money they offered was not so big that you couldn't refuse it. Later in my career, Real Madrid made an excellent offer and [Giovanni] Agnelli from Juventus wanted to give me a share of Fiat in return for me signing – Fiat had opened a plant in Brazil and they wanted to use me to promote it," he said in 2005.
"It's funny because I tease the Brazilian players now. I see them kissing the badge on their shirt and they say, 'I love Manchester, I love it.'
"Then the next year, they move and they say, "I love Roma, I love it.'
"They don't love the club, they love the money, that's why they moved. That's OK, but at some point you've got to decide what you love: the team, or the money?"
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In 1962, Pelé was part of the Brazilian team to again take home World Cup glory.
He won a third with Brazil in 1970.
A year before in 1969 the icon scored his 1000th goal from a penalty kick for Santos against rival Brazilian club Vasco da Gama.
By 1974, after 19 seasons with Santos, Pelé retired from the Brazilian club and the national team.
He would step out of retirement two years later and sign with the New York Cosmos in the United States.
With the sport in its infancy in the US, Pelé's presence proved a major drawcard. On and off the pitch.
A-listers from both the sporting arena and Hollywood, including Muhammad Ali, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, were among crowds at his matches.
"Absolutely everybody wanted to shake his hand, to get a photo with him," Jagger, the music icon, said of Pelé's presence at Studio 54.
"Saying you had partied with Pelé was the biggest badge of honour going."
In 1977 Pelé finally retired from the sport. He was in the centre of the pitch in New Jersey after playing his final match. He held his hand high in victory.
The next day a Brazilian newspaper ran with the headline: "Even the Sky Was Crying".
During his playing career with Brazil and Brazilian clubs Pelé scored a total 1283 first-class goals. He scored a total of 77 for Brazil.
He won three World Cups, two World Club Championships and nine Sao Paulo State Championships.
Pelé held the position of Brazil's Sports Minister from 1995 and 1998.
In 2000 the late former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, presented Pelé with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award.
"He began life in poverty and rose to the highest level of fame. To watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full," Mandela said.
In 2014, Pelé was awarded the first ever FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur for his contribution to world football.
Since exiting the game, there has been a list of future championship footballers bestowed the moniker "the new Pelé".
These include Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Neymar and Gabriel Jesus. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were also among the list.
"People look for the new Pelé because it's a dream, a kind of ambition for any club or national team to have people like him," Carlos Alberto Parreira, who was Brazil technical director between 2012 and 2014, told ESPN.
"People in Argentina look for a new [Diego] Maradona, people in Germany look for a new Franz Beckenbauer, and in Brazil they look for a new Pelé.
"You put your hopes so high, you are always looking to have someone like him.
"But I don't think you will again have a new Pelé. It is so difficult to replace such huge talent."
Off the pitch, Pelé was married three times.
He first tied the knot in 1966 to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi. They had three children together.
The couple divorced in 1982.
He married again in 1994, taking psychologist and gospel singer Assiria Lemos Seixas as his wife.
The couple had twins.
By 2008 the couple's marriage ended.
Pelé went on to have two more children, bringing the number of his brood to seven.
Pelé married in 2016, taking businesswoman and entrepreneur Marcia Aoki as his third wife.
Pelé suffered his first health scare during the 1970s.
He had surgery to remove a kidney after complications from a broken rib.
In 2015 he was hospitalised in Brazil due to an enlarged prostate.
Four years later in 2019, at age 78, he again had surgery to remove kidney stones.
Pelé was diagnosed with bowel cancer in September 2021.
He is survived by his wife and seven children.
