Passing of Pelé mourned as his legacy of sport for peace lives on

Among the many lasting impacts of Brazilian football superstar Pelé's celebrated 82 years of life is his role as an international champion of sport to promote peace.

Pelé, who lifted his nation to a record three World Cups and became a legend of the "beautiful game," died on Thursday in Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital at São Paulo, Brazil, where he was undergoing treatment for colon cancer since 2021.

Along with his astonishing prowess at evading opponents and scoring prolifically for Brazilian club Santos and the Brazil national team, he became a global ambassador for the sport in the promotion of international efforts to build peace.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Pelé. We extend our condolences to the Brazilian people and the football family," UNESCO said. "Pelé was UNESCO Champion for Sport since 1994 and worked relentlessly to promote sport as a tool for peace. He will be greatly missed. Até sempre, o Rei."

As Brazil declared three days of national mourning for Pelé, U.N. refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said that "we are all with the people of Brazil, celebrating a man who made millions of kids dream across continents and generations."

A wake is scheduled for Monday and Pelé funeral is planned for Tuesday in Santos, the southeastern Brazilian city where he played for most of his career. In his other roles, Pelé also worked with FIFA as an ambassador against racism and with UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador to advocate for children's rights.

A legacy of elevating others

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Pelé was unique in so many ways: the only player to have won the FIFA World Cup three times; an athlete with incomparable skills and imagination; and the ability to rise above racism and poverty.

"Football could be brutal in those days, and Pelé was often on the receiving end of some rough treatment. But, while he knew how to stand up for himself, he was always an exemplary sportsman, with genuine respect for his opponents," said Infantino.

"His life is about more than football. He changed perceptions for the better in Brazil, in South America and across the world," he said. "His legacy is impossible to summarize in words."

Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, rose from a Brazilian slum where his nickname was a taunt. He would fight school playmates that used it. As an adult, the nickname became synonymous with a 20th century global sports idol.

He won his first World Cup in 1958, at the age of 17, and went to win twice more in 1962 and 1970. He retired from the game in 1977 after scoring a world record 1,281 goals and playing in 1,363 games starting from the age of 15. He was voted player of the century in 1999.

"Before Pelé, football was just a sport. Pelé changed everything. He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to Black people and especially he gave visibility to Brazil," said Brazilian football star Neymar.

"Football and Brazil elevated their standing thanks to the King!" he said. "He is gone, but his magic will endure. Pelé is eternal!"

'We must give something'

Pelé transcended the sport, according to prominent scholar and literary critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr., founder of The Root magazine and director of Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

“Pelé introduced the art of African dance to the world’s most democratic sport, and the result was a sublime blend of physical prowess, professional acumen and shrewdness, and the sheer magic of poetry-in-motion," Gates wrote.

"His trademarked bicycle kick tested the laws of gravity on the soccer pitch long before Michael Jordan decided to give Newton a run for his money on the basketball court," he said. "Pelé – a prince both on and off the pitch – was the world’s greatest player of the world’s most popular game; his successors compete in his shadow. Soccer mourns the loss of the genius who profoundly remolded an entire sport in his own image.”

In 1992, he was Goodwill Ambassador for the landmark 1992 U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where the summit's secretary-general, Maurice Strong, said Pelé's "commitment to people, to the planet, really distinguish him a true citizen of our Earth" who works hard to give back to others.

"In life, we pass. We stay here for a short period," Pelé told reporters. "Then we must give something to the people who come after us.