Dondinho wife
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Brazilian football icon Pele leaves an unparalleled legacy
Sao Paulo, Brazil – On July 16, 1950, Brazil faced Uruguay to decide who would lift the World Cup. Hosting the tournament on home soil for the first time, the Brazilian team simply needed to avoid defeat against their neighbours to become world champions.
Meanwhile, in the small Brazilian city of Bauru, an excitable nine-year-old named Edson Arantes do Nascimento played outside while his father was glued to the radio, willing Brazil on to their first World Cup title. When the match was over and Uruguay had pulled off a shock 2-1 win, Edson overheard his father weeping.
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end of list“Don’t cry, Dad,” he said, “I’ll win the World Cup for you.”
Young Edson would grow up to become Pele, arguably the greatest footballer to ever play the sport
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A tribute to Pele
Pele passed away two years ago today
'The King’ left an incomparable legacy in football
FIFA pays tribute to him with tales, trivia and stats
The names The names
Dondinho and Celeste named their first son Edson after Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in history. His family nicknamed him ‘Dico’, but he received the moniker ‘Pele’ in school due to his mispronunciation of Brazilian goalkeeper, Bile. Dondinho was a lower-league footballer. “To this day I’m very proud that my father is the only player I know of who scored five headers in one game,” Pele told FIFA.
The promiseThe promise
Dondinho and his friends, transfixed to a radio, were euphoric – Brazil had just gone 1-0 up in a decider against Uruguay they only needed to draw, at the Maracana in 1950, to win their first World Cup. A nine-year-old Pele therefore left home for a kickabout with friends. "When I got back I was dumbfounded,” Pele recalled. “It was the first time I saw my father cry. He was devastated. I promised him, ‘One day I will win you the World Cup.’
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The five lives of Pelé
Drawing by Sammy Moody
Thore Haugstad
1 Feb 2023
In the 1950s, a bunch of rowdy kids met up in Bauru, a town in Brazil, to start a football team. They were used to playing on dirt and rocks, using balls made of socks or newspapers tied with string. Now they named the team Sete de Setembro, a tribute to the day Brazil won independence from Portugal in 1822, and listed what they had to buy: shirts, shorts, socks, boots and a proper ball. But they had no money. One of the poorest was Pelé, who had arrived there from Três Corações when his dad, Dondinho, a semipro striker, had been given a deal at Bauru Athletic Club and a job at the council, only to have the job offer withdrawn. Now Dondinho was providing for his wife, three kids, uncle and mother—and Pelé had helped out by shining shoes at the train station. Pelé had no cash for gear and boots. But he had an idea.
He wanted to collect enough football sticker cards to fill an album, then sell it for big money. His friends doubted this plan, so Pelé went solo, scrapping and selling until he had enough t
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