PELE was football’s first global superstar. Great players and star players may have come before him, but none had reached such levels of lore.

Stories of his talent were spread by word of mouth before TV and moving pictures emerged to confirm these unbelievable reports as true.

The timing of his emergence combined with his mastery of the game means there will never be another player like him.

The fact Pele was able to become such a global star while playing the entirety of his club football career in the Americas, mostly for Santos in Brazil, demonstrates how his imaginative and unmistakable way of playing football flourished across a decade when media was becoming more global.

Given the veneration of Pele as a global football icon and celebrity, it is sometimes easy to forget Pele the footballer.

During his time with Santos and Brazil, Pele was already performing skills and moves that would later become synonymous with other players.

The ever-increasing number of attacking roles on a football pitch that emerged during Pele’s career and after had already been played in a fashion by the man himself, or at least by one of his teammates in one of those world-class Santos and Brazil sides.

He came to the fore for the Brazil national team as part of their 1958 World Cup winning side in Sweden.

It was the first great Brazil team and arguably the greatest. New versions can sometimes diminish the achievements of older iterations, but echoes of this team are still seen in the way teams play to this day.

In 1958 Pele operated in a role that would be considered somewhere between a second striker and a number ten, alongside or behind the centre forward, in this case, Vava of Vasco da Gama.

Vava scored his first goals of that tournament in the third group game against the USSR. It was a game that also witnessed the first appearances for Garrincha and Pele at a World Cup.

The pair remained in the team for the rest of that tournament, playing a big part in Brazil’s success, and Brazil would never lose another game in which both played.

Pele stepped onto this world stage with confidence. A sprightly and inventive all-round attacker who immediately wowed any fans in Sweden lucky enough to see these games live or those catching grainy highlights on TV.

The 17-year-old Pele stands out in these dusty recordings, which can still be found in the archives online. Even in the most blurry images, he can still be recognised, such was the uniqueness of his talent and the brightness of his playing style.

He wasn’t the only innovative player in this 1958 team, though. It contained several standouts including the one-off winger Garrincha, hugely underrated midfield maestro Didi, and Zito, who was Pele’s teammate at Santos and an early example of a player in the modern defensive midfield role.

The two full-backs, Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos (not related) were also outstanding. The latter was named in three consecutive World Cup Teams of the Tournament between 1954 and 1962.

Future Brazil manager Mario Zagallo patrolled the left wing with responsibilities in defence and attack, while Vasco defensive duo Orlando and (captain) Hilderaldo Bellini stood majestically and solidly in front of goalkeeper Gilmar.

Pele’s career is viewed as one of individual brilliance, but the 1958 Brazil team managed by Vicente Feola that accompanied the teenager during his first trip to Europe, and the Santos side managed by Lula that proved themselves as one of the best teams in the world, gave the great man a platform from which to display his talent.

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to imagine a player remaining in Brazil for their peak years and being considered the best in the world, but back then South American club teams were a global force.

Santos won two Intercontinental Cups, one against a Benfica side featuring Eurebio in 1962, and another in 1963 against Milan’s European Cup winning side managed by Jose Altafini, as well as two Copa Libertadores finals in those years which propelled them onto that global stage.

Friendly matches were more prestigious and meaningful in that era due to the eagerness of clubs to test themselves at international as well as domestic level. The quality of teams in both Europe and South America was high, more even than it is today.

A Santos side featuring Pele defeated Barcelona at Camp Nou in 1959 with the teenager, still buzzing from that World Cup win a year earlier, scoring a brace in a 5-1 win.

The Brazilian side played 22 games in 44 days on that European tour. The list of games read more like the tour dates for a band or comedian than a football club playing physically taxing matches against teams across Europe.

It introduced Santos as one of the great teams and the 18-year-old Pele, not as a rising star, but as already one of the best players in the world. His team went on to win six domestic Brazilian league titles in the 1960s.

It is from those roots that the legend of Pele would grow. There were stories of this player from Brazil doing great things for club and country, and fans across the world were eager to see him for themselves.

No-one would come away feeling underwhelmed, and many who saw Pele will still rank him as the best player ever, above the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano who had gone before him and above Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi who came later.

Pele was injured for much of the next World Cup in 1962 in Chile, but did play in the first two group games, assisting one and scoring another in the opener against Mexico as Brazil went on to win their second world title.

He played at the World Cup in England in 1966, appearing and scoring in a win against Bulgaria at Goodison Park, where Brazil went on to lose against strong teams from Hungary and Portugal, exiting at the group stage.

Pele was subjected to some rough treatment from the opposition, as was often the case once he became a more widely known footballing force of nature, and this meant he missed the Hungary game and played through injury against Portugal.

Pele’s last World Cup in 1970 could be compared to the one we have just seen from Lionel Messi for Argentina in 2022.

Unlike Messi, Pele already had two World Cup winners medals to his name, but had not been able to really display the full extent of his talent on this global stage since his breakthrough tournament in ‘58.

Pele the footballer had already shone at a World Cup, but Pele the global superstar had not yet had his World Cup. As it turned out, his first and last World Cups were to be his best and most iconic performances.

The 1970 team in Mexico were coached by one of Pele’s teammates from ‘58, Mario Zagallo, and there were similarities in the way the team set up.

Gerson played the Didi role, Tostao was the equivalent to Vava, and Zagallo chose Rivelino to play in what had been his position on the left.

In Jairzinho, Brazil had their new Garrincha, while Carlos Alberto and Everaldo continued what was becoming the Brazilian tradition of quality attacking full-backs. Clodoaldo patrolled the midfield in a style somewhere between that of Didi and Zito.

As in ’58, this team gave Pele the platform from which to show his unmatched football skill.

But unlike Pele’s first World Cup, this tournament was broadcast more widely, more completely, and in colour.

Even if many didn’t have access to a colour TV, the fact it was captured in such a manner, with images eventually finding their way to a global audience via video or photo, helped fill in the gaps and make real all those half-imagined ideas of Pele the footballer. He was actually as good as people imagined.

From that moment in Mexico, with the help of iconic images of goal celebrations and trophy lifts, having been named the tournament’s best player, the legend grew.

Pele became an ambassador for many organisations, such was his profile, but most of all he was an ambassador for the game of football. He was the de facto president of football.

All corners of the world have a story about how he helped grow the game, not least in New York, where he played in three seasons for NASL team New York Cosmos.

The fact they are still one of the most recognisable US football team names, despite never playing in Major League Soccer and having an inconsistent existence since the original NASL disbanded, is a testament to Pele’s presence and the path he forged for other stars to see out their final years in North America.

Pele also opened the door for young footballers across the world, who began to see the game not just as a sport, but also as a means of expression and progression.

Other players may overtake Pele on the list of greatest footballers ever, Maradona and Messi probably already have, but there will never be a player who has a greater impact on the game as a whole.

As a player, Pele encapsulated everything that makes a footballer great, but the timing of his emergence, as the global game became more globally accessible, meant he went on to transcend that in a way no future player ever will.