People’s Daily Sports commemorates Pele: before him, football was just a sport.

The man who sublimated football into an art is gone.
On the afternoon of December 29, local time, the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo issued a communiqu é confirming that Bailey had died of multiple organ failure caused by colon cancer at the age of 82.
No matter how gorgeous words are, it is difficult to summarize his achievements, but the simple word “Ball King” can make all legends self-evident. Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in 1940, the child was born in Tres Crassos, Brazil, made his debut for Santos’s first team at the age of 15 and put on the Brazilian national team’s shirt at the age of 16. he scored in his debut on behalf of the Samba, and more than 60 years later he is still the youngest scorer in the football kingdom.
Pele’s father, Dantinho himself, is also a famous footballer. In the 1950 World Cup final, Brazil lost the championship to Uruguay at the Maracana Stadium. Pele saw his father shed tears in front of the radio for the first time. He vowed secretly that one day he would bring the Rimet Gold Cup back to his homeland.
What no one thought was that it took Bailey only eight years to fulfill his promise. He was born at the age of 17 at the 1958 World Cup and scored key goals in the knockout stages, helping Brazil win the first World Cup title in history. He won the World Cup twice in 1962 and 1970 and is still the only player in the world to be crowned World Cup champion three times.
Although the exact number is still controversial, Pele’s 1279 goals in 1363 games have been recognized as the Guinness Book of World Records. 6 Brazilian national championships, 2 South American Libertadores Cup championships, 77 goals in 92 official national team games. Any achievement alone is great enough for other players, but for Pele, it is blasphemous to use these unparalleled numbers to describe him.
After all, no matter how dazzling trophies or exaggerated numbers are, they can only reflect the achievements of a player himself. The reason why Pele is the king of the ball lies in his contribution to football and to the world.
After Pele’s death, the whole football world was in grief, including Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and other active stars on social media. Among them, compatriot Neymar, who shares the national team goal record with Pele, has the most profound words.
“I used to read the phrase, ‘before Pele, the 10th is just a number,’ which is beautiful, but it doesn’t look complete to me,” Neymar wrote. “I would say, ‘before Pele, football is just a sport.’ he sublimated the sport into an art. He spoke for the poor and caught the attention of Brazil. His magic is gone, but his magic lasts forever.”
​ in front of Bailey’s miraculous skills, all the language is pale. In an era when television broadcasting was far from popular and social media was not yet available, he was able to make football famous and surpassed other sports with his brilliant performance. It is precisely because of Pele that the word “beautiful sports” has become exclusive to football.
It is needless to say why football can be called art. In the 1970 World Cup match between Brazil and Uruguay, Pele passed the ball without touching the ball against the goalkeeper, which is still the most classic in the history of football, even if it failed to make it in the end. it doesn’t prevent this picture from becoming the most amazing moment in the sports world.
“inspiration and love wrote footnotes on his life journey.” Bailey’s social media account wrote when it was announced that he had died. Once upon a time, the civil war in Nigeria even ended so that his exhibition match could be held there. No player can change the world through his own sports like Pele.
“God gave me the skill to bring joy to people.” Bailey once said. With his whole life, he has accomplished his mission brilliantly.