Mourning Pelé: the world’s greatest soccer player

To this day the world’s most prolific goal scorer and a three-time World Cup winner, we will forever know him as Pelé. Sadly, the legendary soccer player succumbed to health issues and left us at 82 years old this December 29.

Pelé had undergone surgery to remove a tumor from his colon in September and spent a month in recovery. Doctors said he would be treated with chemotherapy following the surgery, and on December 8 he was hospitalized in São Paulo for further treatment related to the tumor. Now as 2022 draws to a close, we have lost “O Rei.”

In honor of his memory, click through this gallery and take a nostalgic look back at the man who coined the phrase “The Beautiful Game,” and whose electrifying skill and dazzling footwork on the field still inspires would-be soccer players today.