FULL NAME Edson Arantes de Nascimento

DATE and PLACE OF BIRTH 21 October 1940, TrêsCorações, Brazil

NATIONALITY Brazilian

Teams Santos, New York Cosmos, Brazilian national team

Playing Position Striker

Edson Arantes de Nascimento, or Pele as the world knows him, is a three-time World Cup winner and widely believed to be the greatest football player to have graced this planet. In 1999, he was voted the greatest player of the century by France Football. He was a prolific goal scorer and one of the most multi-dimensional players the world has seen. He had a staggering domestic and international career, one which spanned 21 years.

HIS-STORYPele was born in TresCoracoes, Minas Gerais to a footballer father. After leading his youth side to multiple championships, he was able to land a professional contract with Santos. He made his senior debut for the side in 1956 at age 16. The next year he cemented his place in the starting line up and ended the season as the league’s top scorer. In 1958, Pele won his first major title when he scored a record 58 goals in the Campeonato Paulista.

After winning a host of tournaments over the next few years, Santos’ most successful season came in 1962 when they won the Copa Libertadores. That same year Santos defended their Campeonato Brasiliero and TacaBrasil. They even went on to win the Intercontinental Cup that same year in which Pele put in an exemplary performance in the final against Benfica. The following season Santos defended their Copa Libertadores title, beating Boca Juniors in the final. After winning several other titles, Pele entered a semi retirement in 1974. In 1975, he signed for American side New York Cosmos. He is credited with spreading the word about the American game throughout world football. In 1977, he played his last game in an exhibition

PELE BIOGRAPHY

between Santos and New York Cosmos.

The world sat up and took notice of Pele at the 1958 World Cup. His hattrick against France in the semi final helped Brazil enter the final against hosts, Sweden. The final was one of the most one sided in the competition’s history as Brazil ran out 5-2 winners. Pele scored two of his side’s goals, one of them, a controlled volley, is widely accepted to be one of the World Cup’s best. It was at this tournament that Pele started wearing his famed No. 10 jersey.

At the next edition, Pele was touted to be the player of the tournament but an injury early on in the tournament kept him out of the latter stages of the tournament. A Garrincha-inspired Brazil went on to defend its title. After a disappointing 1966 World Cup, Brazil went to Mexico for the 1970 World Cup. The Brazil team of the ‘70 World Cup is generally considered to be one of the greatest teams of all time. They won the tournament at a canter, beating Italy in the final 4-1. Pele scored one and assisted two of the lot. He was named player of the tournament.

SCORE CARDPele has an astounding list of personal and team achievements. With Santos he won two Copa Libertadores’ and one Intercontinental Supercup in addition to the numerous domestic titles. In the golds of the Selecao, he won the World Cup thrice. He won the Silver Ball for the 1958 tournament and the Golden Ball in the 1970 World Cup. He is also the all-time leading scorer of the Brazilian national team. Pele also holds the astounding record of having scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 games for club sides. In a World Cup Football Federationceremony in 2000, he was voted the Greatest Player of the Century.

TRIVIAPele’s parents named him after the great American inventor, Thomas Edison,however, without the ‘i’. As to the origin of the name he’s known by, it is said that he idolized the Vasco da Gama goalkeeper, Bile, while growing up. His pronunciation of the name sounded a lot like ‘Pele’. His friends started calling him that because he misspoke and the name stuck.

Another famous anecdote of Pele’s fame in Brazil comes from after the 1958 World Cup. The then 17-year-old’s performances made all the big European clubs sit up and take notice. However, the Brazilian government declared him an “official national treasure” to prevent his transfer out of the country.

OFFSIDEIn 1970, Pele was investigated, covertly, for having leftist sympathies by the military dictatorship at the time after he called for the release of political prisoners.

Full Name Ronaldo Luis Nezario de Lima

Date of Birth 18 Sept, 1976

Place of Birth Rio de Janeiro

Height 1.82 m

Nationality Brazilian

Playing position Striker

Ronaldo was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 1976 and is the third child of NelioNazario de Lima and Sonia dos Santos Barata. Growing up in a working class neighborhood, Ronaldo developed an early love for the game of football.

HIS STORYRonaldo's odyssey started in the local club,Cruzeiro in 1993 before flying to join Dutch giants PSV at the age of 17. Ronaldo stayed there from 1994-96 becoming the Eredivisie top scorer in 1995. In 1996, he moved to Barcelona for arecord transfer fee of nearly $20 million.

Memorable moments there included 34 goals in 1997 including the one against SD Compostela. In 1997 he moved to Inter Milan where he lit up San Siro with his lightning strikes till 2002. Ronaldo became part of Real Madrid in 2002 and because of his goal-

Ronaldo Biography

scoring abilities was the highest scorer in La Liga in 2004.In 2007 he moved to AC Milan and formed a striking trio with Kaka and Pato known as Ka-Pa-Ro.After playing for two seasons in Inter, Ronaldo came back to Brazil playing for Corinthians till his 2011 retirement.

His international debut came in versus. From early on there was no looking back as he was part of Brazil's 1994 World Cup and 1996 Olympics campaign.It was in 1998 World Cup that he came on his own. Hailed as a great soccer player, Ronaldo wove his magic scoring 4 goals - a feat he doubled in the 2002 edition and remembered for his combination with Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Ronaldo scored 3 more goals in the 2006 edition, thus becoming the highest goalscorer. That he is a living legend was testified by the rousing reception he got from the Brazilian crowd during his farewell match against Romania in Sao Paulo in June 2011.

SCORE CARDRonaldo's records themselves speak for the legend who played the 'beautiful game' so splendidly. A winner of 1994 and 2002 World Cups, besides Confederations Cup 1997 and Copa America in 1997 and 1999. He was the Football World Cup Golden Ball winner for 1998 for being the best player and won the Golden Boot winner in 2002 for being the top scorer. Ronaldo was awarded World Cup Football World Player of the year in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He was judged as the Serie A 'Player of the Decade' award for 1997-2007. He also made it into the ‘FIFA’ 100 list of best footballers.

EXTRA TIMERonaldo had a long term relationship with Brazilian actress Susana Werner before marrying Brazilian women's team star MileneDomingues in 1999 with whom he had a son. In 2005 he married Brazilian model Daniela Cicarelli but divorced soon. At present, he is married to Maria Beatriz Antony and lives in Sao Paolo and his four children in his mansion. He has teamed up with Emerson Fittipaldi to co-own the Brazilian A1 Racing team.

OFF SIDERonaldo created a furore for his underpar performance in 1998 World Cup finals versus France when he was said to have suffered a bout of convulsive fit. He recreated a minor ripple in Brazil when he joined Corinthians after declaring his support and love for Flamengo. In 2008, Ronaldo was involved in a night club escort scandal which created media buzz before settling the case.

FULL NAME Franz Anton Beckenbauer

Date And Place Of Birth:

11 September 1945. Munich, Germany.

Nationality: German

Teams:SC 1906 Munchen, Bayern Munich, New York Cosmos, Hamburg SV, German National Team

Playing Position: Sweeper

Franz Beckenbauer is generally considered to be one of the most influential football players of modern times. He is generally accredited with having invented the role of the modern sweeper, or libero. He and Mario Zagallo are the only players to have won the FIFA World Cup both as player and coach. He was nicknamed Der Kaiser by the German media due to the words royal connotations.

HIS-STORY Franz was born in a post-World War II Munich and started playing football at the age of nine. Growing up, he dreamed of playing for 1860 Munich, the biggest club of Bavaria at the time. Circumstances conspired against him and he ended up joining City rivals, Bayern. In his first season with the club, he won promotion to the newly formed national league. It was around this time, Beckenbauer became club captain and led the side to their first league title in the 1968-69 season that he started experimenting with the sweeper role, switching from the left wing.

Over time, he made the role his own. It was his legendary Bayern side that served as a blueprint for all things football in Germany, right up until the 90s when the country felt the need to reinvent its footballing philosophies. Under his captaincy, Bayern won a hat-trick of European Cups, during 1974-76. He ended his playing career in New York

Franz Beckenbauer Biography

Cosmos in 1982 after spending time in Hamburg for three years.

For the national side, Beckenbauer appeared in the 1966 and 1970 World Cups, where he made notable performances. However, his crowning glory came in the 1974 World Cup when he led his country to a victory over Johann Cryuffs famous side in the final. This gave them the distinction of holding both the World Cup and European Championship titles at the same, a unique achievement at the time.

As a manager, Beckenbauer led the side to the 1986 World Cup final only to be beaten to the prize by a Maradona-inspired Argentina. He got his revenge, however, in the next edition when Germany ran out as winners beating Argentina in a re-run of the previous final.

SCORE CARDBeckenbauer continues to be one of Europes most decorated players. He won the Bundesliga title 4 times with Bayern and once with Hamburg. He also won the European Cup thrice in a row. As far as individual titles are concerned, Der Kaiser won the Ballon DOr on two separate occasions, 1972 and 1976. At the 74 World Cup, he was awarded the Silver Ball. He has been voted on various All Time XIs.

TRIVIAThe nickname Der Kaiser is one which is immediately identified with Beckenbauer. As for its origins, Beckenbauer himself narrates a story of how he once posed with a bust of Franz Joseph I, while on tour to Austria with Bayern. The media saw the photo and coined the nickname Football Kaiser which was later shortened to Der Kaiser.

OFFSIDEIn 1963, when still a youth player at Bayern, Beckenbauer, aged 18, was engulfed in controversy when his girlfriend at the time was revealed to be pregnant and he refused to marry her. Consequently, he was banned from the German youth side by the DFB only to reinstated by the sides coach, Dettmar Cramer.