The world of football and sports is in mourning. This afternoon the news of the death of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, legendary Brazilian soccer player better known as Pelé and who is considered one of the best soccer players and athletes of all time, came to light.
Pelé’s death was confirmed by Joe Fraga, his agent, to various media outlets. The soccer player passed away this Thursday at the age of 82, a few weeks after being admitted to the hospital and being in palliative care.
“Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you to the end. Rest in peace ”, fixed Kely Nascimiento, daughter of Pelé, on social networks.
In his soccer career, Pelé represented Santos FC in Brazil and the New York Cosmos in the United States. In his club career, O Rei scored a total of 1,156 goals in 1,223 friendly and official matches. Although he is a legend for both teams, where he became a mythical name he was in the Brazilian team, crowned world champion 3 times: Sweden 1958, Chile 1982 and Mexico 1970.
Inspiration and love will mark the day of Rei Pelé, who passed away today.
Love, love and love, forever.
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Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today.Love, love and love, forever. pic.twitter.com/CP9syIdL3i
— Pele (@Pele) December 29, 2022
Pelé in the world of video games
The world of soccer and video games have been connected for several years. For this reason, it was inevitable that O Rei would participate in different video games and that for many he would be a kind of sports ambassador within the world of gaming.
One of the first moments where Pelé was related to video games was at the beginning of the 80s with the release of Pele Soccera modified version of Championship Soccer of Atari 2600. With this, the athlete became the first sports star to be on the cover of a video game and be the star of it. It is said that Pelé liked this game so much that he decided to promote it personally.
However, the reality is that Pelé had already worked with video game companies a little earlier. In fact, he went with Atari itself by being one of the stars of the commercials for the launch of the Atari 2500 along with Pete Rose, 3-time champion of the World Series of Baseball and Don Knott, American comedian.
Pelé was also the star of Pele!, a video game for the SEGA Genesis that debuted in 1993. Developed by Radical Entertainment and distributed by Accolade, this isometric camera soccer game gave you the chance to choose between 40 national soccer teams. While it received mixed reviews, it was successful enough to receive a sequel: Pele II: World Tournament Soccer.
Nor can we forget that Pelé appeared in several installments of FIFA, the Electronic Arts soccer saga, both as an Icon and a member of the Best 11 of classic players. He was even on hand at the E3 2015 Electronic Arts presentation to talk about the art of soccer and FIFA 16. In recent years, we also remember him for collaborating with Epic Games on content for Fortnite Y Rocket League.
At LEVEL UP we send our condolences and best wishes to Pelé’s family and loved ones. We also wish that the legendary soccer player finds peace in his final rest.
