The man who made football

Whether Pele was the greatest of all time or not is immaterial. He was the first, the original and the pioneer. The one who expanded the horizons of football and his nation, and set the benchmark for everyone to follow

The world of sport is constructed of moments, the little ones in which someone does something unbelievable that stays with us forever; of feats, the landmarks that exemplify the zenith of human achievement; of personalities, the larger-than-life characters whose tireless and idiosyncratic quest for excellence pushes the boundaries of what is possible; and of icons, who spread beyond the confines of their arena to define a generation. As Pele bids farewell, at the age of 82, in a hospital bed surrounded by his loved ones and mourned by legions of fans who grew up on his legend, the world lost a superstar who personified all of the above.

A girl walks among a floral arrangement for the late Brazilian soccer star Pele at the City Hall in Santos, Brazil, December. 30 (AP)

Pele gave us countless little moments of sheer joy — the flick-and-volley finish against Sweden in 1958, the bicycle kick against Belgium in 1965, the unseen pass to Carlos Alberto in the 1970 World Cup final. Such was Pele’s range that he singlehandedly devised the next 60 years of football that would follow; doing the Cruyff turn before Cruyff, the Beckenbauer run-and-gun before Beckenbauer, the Ronaldo scissor kick before Ronaldo, and the Messi shimmy before Messi.

Pele’s greatest global feats have remained unachieved six decades later — starring in a World Cup triumph at the age of 17 in 1958, fashioning the last team to ever have retained that title four years later, and giving Brazil a third world crown in four attempts in his Eastman-colour swansong in 1970.

The larger-than-life Pele’s quest for the back of the net continued for almost two decades — his smiling visage served as the perfect foil for an insatiable hunger that resulted in a Fifa and Guinness Book record of 1,281 goals (including friendlies and unofficial matches) that were scored in every manner possible.

And his aura stretched far beyond the football field — he was one of the world’s most recognisable names through the 20th and 21st centuries even in places he’d never visited, he was declared a “national treasure” who was entreated not to ply his trade in European clubs, and he put Brazil, until then for many westerners the land where the nut came from, on the world map as the “land of the beautiful game”.

Over the last two weeks, ever since Argentina won the World Cup in Messi’s final attempt at 35 years of age, the never-ending debate on who is the greatest of all time (GOAT) has been reignited, with Diego Maradona and Pele as the other two candidates. But the futility of that argument becomes apparent, when you consider that in Pele’s case the real question is a different one: Was he the world’s biggest sporting icon of his age because he played football, or did football become the world’s most popular sport because it was played by him?

For Pele, GOAT or not, was the first, the original, the pioneer. The one who expanded the horizons and set the benchmark for what was to follow. As he told The Guardian in 2003, the one who never dies, but goes on forever.