Pelé, Brazil’s Mighty King of ‘Beautiful Game,’ Has Died

Pelé, Brazil’s Mighty King of ‘Beautiful Game,’ Has Died
Brazil's soccer legend Pele greets the crowd ahead of a Spanish league soccer match, in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Jan. 16, 2005. Jasper Juinen/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:

SAO PAULO—Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82.

The standard-bearer of “the beautiful game” had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer.