“King” Pele “passed away” on Thursday afternoon (December 29) at the age of 82 (born October 23, 1940) after over a year of battling colon cancer.

At one time, certainly the most famous and, perhaps, the highest paid athlete in the world. Edson Arantes do Nascimento wrote his own unique story of the most popular of all sports, the game of football.

He left the stage on 1 October 1977 when he played his last game. A friendly match against two of the teams he played for in his career, New York World and Santos.

The match was played at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, in front of 77,000 fans, including then US President Jimmy Carter and sports legend Muhammad Ali.

Pele played for Team USA in the first half and Brazil in the second half.

The Brazilians led through Reinaldo, but Pelé equalized from a free kick, scoring the last goal of his career. Ramon Miffin scored the winning goal at the New York World Cup.

Born on October 23, 1940, Edson Arantes do Nascimento played more than 800 official matches during his career for Santos, Cosmos and the Brazilian national team, with whom he won three world championships.