Oct 23, 1940 — Pele was born as Edson Arantes do Nascimento in Três Corações in Brazil

Sep 7, 1956 — He made his debut for the Santos football club after spending time in the junior team.

Jul 7, 1957 — Pelé’s first international match was a 2-1 defeat to Argentina at the Maracanã. In that match, he scored his first goal for Brazil aged 16 years and nine months, and he remains the youngest goalscorer for his country.

Jun 8, 1958 — At 17, he made his FIFA World Cup debut for Brazil.

Jun 29, 1958 — He scored two goals in the World Cup final as Brazil beat Sweden 5-2. He became famous for wearing his number 10 shirt and was also the youngest player to feature in a World Cup final.

Mar 5, 1961 — Pele scored the ‘Gol de Placa’ (goal worthy of a plaque) while playing for Santos against Fluminense. The goal was so amazing, they made a plaque to celebrate what they call the most beautiful goal in the history of football.

Jun 17, 1962 — Pele wins his second World Cup at 21 years old when Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final.

Nov 9, 1969 — Pele scores his 1000th career goal during a match against Vasco Da Gama, this goal is known as O Milesimo (the thousandth).

Jun 21, 1970 — Pele wins his third World Cup, the only person to ever achieve this, when Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in the final. It was Pele’s last World Cup game.

Jul 18, 1971 — Pele plays his last international match against Yugoslavia in Rio de Janeiro.

Jun 10, 1975 — Pele joined the New York Cosmos. After Retiring from Brazilian club football, he was credited with making football popular in North America.

Oct 1, 1977 — Pele retired from football when he played his final game, a testimonial between Cosmos and Santos in New York. He played the first half for Cosmos and the second half for his old team Santos.

May 18, 1978 — Pele was awarded the International Peace Award for all his work with UNICEF. UNICEF helps children all over the world.

Jul 30, 1981 — Pele makes his acting debut in the film Escape to Victory

Jan 1, 1992 — Starting in 1992 Pele was a United Nations ambassador for ecology and the environment. Since then, he had been a Goodwill Ambassador and Brazil’s Extraordinary Minister for Sport.

Dec 3, 1997 — Pele was awarded an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II

Dec 11, 2000 — Pele jointly awarded FIFA Player of the Century with Argentina’s Diego Maradona

Aug 9, 2012 — Pele awarded an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland