Soccer star Pele, Brazilian legend of the beautiful game, dies at 82

(Reuters) - Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, died on Thursday at the age of 82. Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital, where Pele was undergoing treatment, said he died at 3:27 p.m. "due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition." 'WHAT IS POSSIBLE' U.S. President Joe Biden said on his Twitter that Pele's rise from humble beginnings to soccer legend was a story of "what is possible." Pele, whose given name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, joined Santos in 1956 and turned the small coastal club into one of the most famous names in football. In addition to a host of regional and national titles, Pele won two Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, and two Intercontinental Cups, the annual tournament held between the best teams in Europe and South America. He took home three World Cup winner's medals, the first time as a 17-year-old in Sweden in 1958, the second in Chile four years later - even though he missed most of the tournament through injury - and the third in Mexico in 1970, when he led what is considered to be one of the greatest sides ever to play the game. He retired from Santos in 1974 but a year later made a surprise comeback by signing a lucrative deal to join the New York Cosmos in the then nascent North American Soccer League. In a glorious 21-year career he scored between 1,281 and 1,283 goals, depending on how matches are counted. Pele, though, transcended soccer, like no player before or since, and he became one of the first global icons of the 20th century. With his winning smile and an aw-shucks humility that charmed legions of fans, he was better known than many Hollywood stars, popes or presidents – many if not most of whom he met during a six-decade-long career as player and corporate pitchman. "I am sad, but I am also proud to be Brazilian, to be from Pele's country, a guy who was a great athlete," said Ciro Campos, a 49-year-old biologist in Rio de Janeiro. "And also off the field, he was a cool person, not an arrogant athlete." Pele credited his one-of-a-kind mix of talent, creative genius and technical skill to a youth spent playing pick-up games in small-town Brazil, often using grapefruit or wadded-up rags because his family could not afford a real ball. Pele was named "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, co-"Football Player of the Century" by world soccer body FIFA, and a "national treasure" by Brazil's government. His celebrity was often overwhelming. Grown adults broke down crying in his presence with regularity. When he was a player, souvenir-seeking fans rushed the field following games and tore off his shorts, socks and even underwear. His house in Brazil was less than a mile from a beach, but he didn't go there for some two decades because of fear of crowds. Yet even in unguarded moments among friends, he rarely complained. He believed that his talent was a divine gift, and he spoke movingly about how soccer allowed him to travel the world, bring cheer to cancer patients and survivors of wars and famine, and provide for a family that, growing up, often did not know the source of their next meal. "God gave me this ability for one reason: To make people happy," he said during a 2013 interview with Reuters. "No matter what I did, I tried not to forget that." Brazil's CBF soccer federation said "Pele was much more than the greatest sportsman of all time... The King of Soccer was the ultimate exponent of a victorious Brazil." Kylian Mbappé, the French star many view as the current best soccer player in the world, also offered his condolences. "The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten," he wrote on Twitter. "RIP KING." Reporting by Andrew Downie and Gabriel Araujo; Additional reporting by Peter Frontini, Carolina Pulice and Sergio Queiroz; Editing by Gabriel Stargardter, Daniel Wallis and Rosalba O'Brien