Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, died this Thursday (29), aged 82. The athlete of the 20th century had been hospitalized at the Albert Einstein hospital, in São Paulo (SP), since November 29th.
Pelé’s childhood was typical of a poor boy in the Minas Gerais town of Três Corações. When he heard his father, Seu Dondinho, cry with the Brazilian defeat to Uruguay in the 1950 Cup, in Maracanã, he promised that he would win a World Cup and he won three.
Information about his assets is not so exact, but it is speculated that he revolves around R$80 million, adding real estate, investments and his company’s revenue. In 1961, newspapers published that the King of football earned Cr$2 million per month, around R$70,000 in current values.
Financial problems and help from João Havelange
In the 1960s, the reality of a soccer player was very different from the astronomical figures of today. Despite this, Pelé already made money with professional contracts with Santos and advertising, but was deceived by the businessman known as Pepe Gordo and lost money in several questionable investments.
He got to the point of being booked by the Federal Revenue during the Military government and admitted that he asked for financial help from João Havelange, then president of the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD) and, years later, of FIFA.
Going to the United States
Pelé played his last World Cup in Mexico, in 1970. On October 2, 1974, he said goodbye to Santos, his lifelong club, and announced his retirement from the pitch at the age of 34.
However, a year later, in 1975, Pelé accepted a proposal from the New York Cosmos and came out of retirement to be the soccer ambassador in the United States, when the country was looking to develop the sport in its territory.
At the time, he accepted a $2.8 million-a-year contract, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time, to parade his talent on North American fields.
Its premiere was broadcast on the CBS television network in 30 countries, with 300 journalists covering it. The audience for the match was 10 million people, a record for football games at the time. In the three seasons he played in the US, Rei scored 37 goals and provided 30 assists.
Controversy with recognition of the daughter
Pelé had three marriages and seven recognized children. One of them, Sandra Regina, had to ask for a paternity test in court in 1991. A year later, the result confirmed that she was Pelé’s daughter with former housemaid Anízia Machado, but even so, the former player preferred not to approach her daughter, who died in 2006.
Sandra’s children, Octávio and Gabriel, won the right to receive their grandfather’s pension in court. The values, in 2013, were R$ 4,746 (R$ 10,250.17 already corrected) for each one.
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