Pelé Was the Most Important Soccer Player of All Time
The Brazilian superstar helped to expand the sport’s appeal and turn it into a multibillion-dollar business.
Still one of the most famous faces on the planet.
Photographer: Adam Berry/Bloomberg
The debate over whether Pelé, who died on Thursday at 82, was the greatest soccer player ever will never be settled. (For what it’s worth, I think that title belongs to Leo Messi.) But there can be no question that he was the most important player in the history of the world’s most popular sport.
Modern soccer — a spectacle with billions of fans that generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues — would not be possible but for Pelé. As the first truly international sporting superstar, he made the game accessible to a global audience. In turn, this brought soccer to the attention of advertisers and sponsors who craved the attention of that audience.