Pelé

On August 1, 2010, it was publicly announced that Pelé was appointed Honorary President of the reincarnated New York Cosmos, who hoped to field a team in Major League Soccer for 2011 or 2012, but who instead will field their inaugural team in the second-tier North American Soccer League beginning with the 2013 season.

Had a daughter, with Anisia Machado, named Sandra Regina Machado do Nascimento (died of cancer in 2006). She was married to Oseás Felinto and had two sons named Otávio and Gabriel.

Son of Celeste and João Ramos do Nascimento (died in 1996).

In 1995, Pelé was awarded Brazil's Gold Medal for outstanding services to sport; Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso appointed him to the position of "Extraordinary Minister for Sport." During his time as Minister for Sport, he proposed legislation to reduce corruption in Brazilian football, which when passed, became known as the "Pelé law." Pelé left government in 2001 after being accused of involvement in a corruption scandal, although nothing was proven, and the charges were further denied by UNICEF. In 1997, Pelé was honored by Queen Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2005, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) bestowed their award for lifetime achievement on Pelé. In 2012, Pelé was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh for "significant contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his sporting achievements," his first such honorary degree from a European university.

Since his retirement from active professional football play, one of his most notable roles has been as an ambassador for the United Nations. Beginning in 1992, Pelé has served as a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment. He was later appointed a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Goodwill Ambassador.

Had a video game named after him back in the 1980s called "Pelé's Soccer".

His last professional playing appearance, which took place on October 1, 1977, was played in front of a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In that match, most unusually, he wore the jerseys of, and played for, both teams. He wore the jersey of his then present team, the New York Cosmos (1975-1977), for the first half of the game, and his original team, Santos (Brazil, 1956-1974) for the second half of the game. At halftime, the Cosmos retired Pelé's number 10. Pelé presented the Cosmos retirement jersey to his father, who was escorted from the stands to the field by Cosmos Captain Werner Roth.

Played for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League from 1975-1977.

During his professional career, he won two Intercontinental Cups and two Liberatadores Cups (both in 1962 and 1963) with Santos FC, his club from 1956 to 1974.

In the late 1960's, when he and his team, Santos, went to Nigeria to play a few friendly matches, the ongoing civil war stopped for the duration of his visit.

Record Top scorer in a calendar year: in 1959 - 127 goals.

Simply he was, and for many people still is, the greatest football player of the world. Not a single thing was impossible for him: he won three World Cup with his National Team of Brazil (Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970). He scored more than 1. 200 goals during his long career (more than 1. 300 official matches). He also won many national Leagues and Continental Cup ("Copa Libertadores"), with his team, the Santos Futebol Clube (of Brazilian 'São Paulo' State). In the Sixties he was nick-named "O Rei" (The King) and in the Seventies 95 peoples out of 100 knew his name. ("Wow, man, you're popular!" said Robert Redford, some years ago, after seeing Pelé give dozens of autographs in New York while he was not asked for one).

His first name was given as Edison on his birth certificate, with a date of birth of October 21, 1940. However, Pelé has publicly claimed that he was born October 23, 1940, and the October 23 date is the most often journalistically cited date. Both Edison and Edson have been variously reported as his given first name.