Pelé

He started his football career in Santos in 1956, at the age of 15, and played in his first international match only ten months later.

In 1958, Pelé became the youngest ever World Cup winner in Sweden at 17. He played in two more Brazilian World Cup-winning teams, in 1962 and 1970. He missed out most of the 1962 and 1966 World Cups due to injuries sustained in the early stages of the tournament.

In 1967, the two factions involved in a civil war in Nigeria agreed for a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition in Lagos.

After his retirement in 1974, he joined the New York Cosmos and played his last game in 1977 in front of thousands of fans.

Pelé is in third place in the list of all-time top scorers in World Cup play, with 12 goals, and he is the only player who has been on a team that won three World Cups. He ended his career with a total of 1281 goals out of 1363 games, becoming one of the most prolific goal scorers ever. In his 92 appearances for the Brazillian national team, he scored 97 goals.

He was voted athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1999. He is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.