Pele: The Autobiography

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Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known worldwide as the greatest footballer that ever lived, Pele, passed away on 29 Dec 2022 at the age of 82. He won every competition there is to win at club and world level. He played professional football at the age of 16 and debuted for Brazil at 17. He would go on to play 1363 senior games and score 1279 goals in a career spanning almost two decades, winning three World Cups It is said that, during the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s, the two sides agreed a 48-hour ceasefire so that they could watch Pelé play an exhibition match in the capital, Lagos! In 1999 Pelé was named FIFA's "Co-Player of the Century", a title he shared with the Argentinian Diego Maradona. He was also named "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee. It was a fitting recognition for this outstanding football player and inspirational man. He is a figure who transcends both football and sport, and is a wonderful ambassador for the charities he represents” Pele: The Autobiography is a remarkable book that chronicles the life of one of the greatest soccer players in history, Pele. Written by Pele himself, this book provides an intimate look into his career and personal life as he recounts his journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of the most iconic athletes ever.

This book was fun to read and I really liked it. I really enjoyed this book because it was about a really good soccer player and I used to play soccer. This book was about how a little boys dream was to play soccer in the big leagues and become the best. When Pele was a boy he was very poor and he was from Brazil. He got better and better and he decided to try out for the world cup in 1958. His performance was amazing and he immediately went to the big leagues. He played professionally in Brazil for 2 decades and then he went to the New York Cosmos late in his career and finished with them. He won 3 world cups in his career and is arguably one of the best that ever lived. I had considered buying this book many times over the years but always held off as I wasn't a major fan of the person and had a suspicion he was overrated. It was during this time that Pele began to demonstrate the leadership qualities which would make him one of the greatest players of all time. He proved to be a natural leader and was always willing to take responsibility for his team’s performance. This proved to be a key factor in his and Santos’ success throughout his career. The last quarter of the book is on his post football career, including becoming a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, the Sports Minister, a Commentator, a Movie Star and philanthropic work. There are also elements on his personal life. What sets this book apart from the other biography and autobiography is the use of graphics. The author has designed this book to be more visually appealing, rather than simply telling the story with words.

A Short Biography of Pelé

Last reason was the fact that off all he been through, and faced at his life, he became the most poplar soccer at the world. Pelé's eventual retirement in 1977 didn't slow him down! He was a Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF, a United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment, and Brazil's Extraordinary Minister for Sport.

Finally, towards the end, part autobiography focuses on post-retirement activities which include working closely with the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF using the platform to raise awareness of global issues of children around the world. Also continuing to serve as the ambassador of the sport itself both domestically and internationally through various initiatives campaigns events etc… All together gives readers great insight into the man who not only became arguably the best ever to play the game, but someone who used fame to betterment society whole long afterward too! StoryShot #1: A Look into the Early Life and Career of the Football Legend

Spotted by football star Waldemar de Brito, Pelé began playing for Santos at 15 and his national team at 16, and won his first World Cup at 17. Despite numerous offers from European clubs, the economic conditions and Brazilian football regulations at the time benefited Santos, thus enabling them to keep Pelé for almost two decades until 1974. Pelé played as an inside forward, striker, and what later became known as the playmaker position. Pelé's technique and natural athleticism have been universally praised and during his playing years he was renowned for his excellent dribbling and passing, his pace, powerful shot, exceptional heading ability, and prolific goalscoring. In 1957, when Pele was just 17 years old, he won his first major trophy as Santos claimed their first Campeonato Brasileiro title. This was the first of many successes that Pele would have with the club, and it laid the foundation for his illustrious career. StoryShot #3: A Domination of South American and Global Club Soccer Other reason the book make me like it and read it more, was the fact of Pele's childhood. At that period of time, at the unknown city that he was born. People had bad situations going wrong. Pele said that sometimes he didn’t eat for days.

With such a great story to be told, there is no surprise that authors have raced to capture his life in books for us to cherish and learn from. This includes an autobiography, with the story coming directly from the footballing legend. Pelé: The Autobiography The best, the greatest and the unbelievable footballer player of all time, named Pele. The autobiography of Pele is an awesome book, I couldn’t stop reading for days, I like this book for a lot of reasons, and one of them is really important to me. If you are not a huge football fan, skip the book and watch the movie Pele: Birth of a Legend (2016) instead. Otherwise, be ready to read about countless games he played and goals he scored, which can be sometimes confusing. Pelé remains one of the most beloved and iconic sports figures in history, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. His legacy lives on through his academy and his incredible feats on the pitch. He has written multiple books about his life and continues to be an inspiration to young footballers around the world. Final Summary and Review Pelé was actively involved in leprosy elimination campaigns in Brazil and did extensive work for children's causes through UNICEF.Aged 11 Pelé joined a youth squad coached by an ex-Brazil player. When he was 15 his coach took him to try out for Santos, a professional Brazilian football club, telling the club "This boy will be the greatest soccer player in the world". He was signed up immediately, and scored his first professional goal before he even turned 16 years old! He was soon recruited into the Brazilian national team, too. The Brazilian superstar is one of the best players to grace the game of football, and his legacy on and off the pitch will be remembered by fans forever. Where I don't think he should be criticised, and where he often has, is in his refusal to involve himself in politics, particularly the Brazilian dictatorship, and in race relations in terms of speaking on the subject of discrimination and racism. To me, it was clear Pele was not motivated nor overly interested in these things, did not adequately understand them and was not eloquent enough to communicate on the subjects in a useful way. He was a largely an uneducated boy from rural Brazil who seemed naive to the wide world in many ways.

Of course Pelé went along for the ride. He was 17. What else was he going to do? What else did he know? As he matured into adulthood, he would discover that his life had already been built around him: a ceaseless treadmill of football and football and things around the football and more football. He would learn that he and he alone was the show (when he was injured for a while in 1962, Santos attendances dropped by 50%). And once the show moved on, he was essentially pensioned off and left to fend for himself. But then, when you have lived as eventful and celebrated a life as Pelé has, memory becomes a vague and splintered thing. Pelé didn’t simply create his own lore out of thin air, even if for the most part he happily went along with it. He’s not sitting there on Wikipedia diligently amending his own goal record. Pelé buys wholeheartedly into his own myth because over 60 years the course of his life led him inexorably in that direction. And so, ultimately, perhaps what you remember is more often what you remember remembering, or what someone else remembered, a well-cut anecdote that you have spent more than half your life polishing before a succession of simpering interviewers. Perhaps over time the fact and the legend blend into each other, to the point where it is no longer meaningful to tell them apart. This isn’t about greats and frauds, truth and lies. It’s about the pressing urge of Pelé’s generation to exalt this one man above all others in what is essentially the history of a team game. Pelé was average-sized but had speed, balance and vision. He had extraordinary control of the ball and was able to shoot powerfully with either foot. And his headers were legendary! This biography stands as a tribute to Pelé, documenting all his achievements at both club and international level. Pelé: The King of Soccer He also shares some valuable experience about managing his finances and being almost bankrupt a few times due to bad investment decisions and allowing a consultant to have full control over his assets. This is what professional athletes often face, being too busy earning money to learn how to manage it.It was equally interesting to read his life post-retirement - the role he played in popularising the sport in the US, his contributions as a brand ambassador across the world, his association with youth programs and his brief political stint as the Minister of Sport in Brazil… For me it reads as a massive brag full of name dropping which eventually ends up feeling a bit less humble and not so much about the actual footballer but about everyone he knows. On top of everything else officially he did not score 1000 goals, not on record anyway only truthfully around the 600 mark so it’s not so accurate either. The setting of the book is mainly in Brazil, where Pele was born and raised. The author describes the poverty and challenges that Pele faced growing up, as well as the vibrant soccer culture that existed in Brazil at the time. To get an autobiography from one of the world’s best players is a true gift to cherish. This is a man that was known worldwide, even by individuals that aren’t too familiar with the sport of football. Casa Pelé, the small two‑room house in Três Corações where Pelé was born in 1940, is now a popular tourist attraction. As no photographs or descriptions of the original house have survived, it was rebuilt entirely from the memories of Pelé’s mother, Dona Celeste, and his uncle Jorge, with period furniture and fixings sourced from antique shops. And so what greets visitors today is really only a vague approximation of the house where one of the world’s most famous footballers spent his earliest years: a heavily curated blend of hazy memories and selective detail. As you walk in, a wireless radio plays classic songs from the early 1940s on an endless loop.