Today Marks 1st Death Anniv. of Pelé

Today (Dec. 29) marks the first death anniversary of the legendary Brazilian footballer Pelé, who was born on Oct. 30, 1940.

He died at age 82 after suffering from cancer. The late Brazilian icon has been one of the most celebrated footballers of his time.

His multiple skills as a playmaker and striker brought him worldwide acknowledgment as one of the best players ever known, an accolade tempered, in Swedish minds at least, by the goal he scored for his national team after 10 minutes of their second-half of the World Cup Final 1954 against Sweden in Solna city.

The World Cup winner three times was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century.

At the end of the 1990s, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century.

Pelé made his debut with Santos at age 15 and the Brazil national team at 16.

Throughout his outstanding international career, he won three FIFA World Cups: 1958, 1962 and 1970, the only player to do so. He was called 'O Rei' (The King) following the 1958 tournament.

Pelé is the joint-top goalscorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games. At the club level, he was Santos' all-time top goalscorer with 643 goals in 659 games.

In Santos' heydays, he led the club to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores, and to the 1962 and 1963 Intercontinental Cup.

Since then, Pelé became the best-paid athlete in the world.

After retiring in 1977, Pelé was a worldwide ambassador for football and made many acting and commercial ventures.

In 2010, he took the helm as the honorary president of the New York Cosmos.