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Tributes were pouring in Thursday after soccer legend Pelé, who won three World Cups with Brazil, died at 82 following a bout with cancer.
Pelé, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was one of the most popular athletes in the world and sparked the growth of interest and participation in soccer in the United States by playing for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League late in his career.
“Before Pelé, ’10’ was just a number. I read that phrase somewhere, at some point in my life. But that sentence, beautiful, is incomplete,” 30-year-old Brazilian soccer star Neymar wrote in Portuguese on Instagram, per a translation. “I would say that before Pelé, football was just a sport. Pele changed everything. He turned football into art, into entertainment.
He gave a voice to the poor, to black people and especially: Gave visibility to Brazil.
