The legendary Brazilian football player Pele died. The icon of Brazilian football, who brought the World Cup trophy to his country three times, becoming an international superstar and the highest-paid team athlete in the world, died at age 82.

Pele's health deteriorated with age. In late December, doctors at the Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo said he was receiving increased care for kidney and heart dysfunction caused by cancer, which he had been battling for more than a year. He also had a respiratory infection, and his family said he would remain in the hospital for the Christmas holidays.

He and Argentine star Diego Maradona, who was younger than Pele and played after he retired, are often called the greatest players of all time-even in 2000 FIFA jointly named them "players of the century." Despite their competition, the two became friends before Maradona died in 2020.

Born on October 23, 1940, Edson Arantes do Nascimento was known as Pele, a nickname he allegedly received after mispronouncing another football player's name.