Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pele struggled with health issues for several years prior to his death on Thursday December 29.

Pele had made light of his health problems in an Instagram post following his surgery last September, saying that he had left intensive care, appearing in good spirits while smiling for the camera, and even joking he was now ready to play “90 minutes and extra time!”   

Pele’s public appearances were already being cut before the Covid-19 pandemic and he made few forays outside his house since. He had to use walkers and wheelchairs to move around during recent years, after a failed hip replacement in 2012. He required surgery on his prostate in 2015, having been admitted to hospital twice in the space of six months.

In 2019, he was admitted again for a urinary infection – and in February 2020 his son Edinho said Pele was reluctant to leave the house because of hip issues. 

“He is very sheepish, reclusive,” he said. “Imagine, he’s the King, he was always such an imposing figure and today he can’t walk properly. He’s embarrassed, he doesn’t want to go out, be seen or do practically anything that involves leaving the house.”

It is a far cry from Pele’s youth, when he changed football forever with his dazzling skill, lightning pace and deadly shooting. He was named the joint winner, alongside Diego Maradona of Argentina, of Fifa’s Player of the Century award in 2000. In 1999 he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee.

He is also credited with coining the phrase ‘the beautiful game’, which has since become synonymous with football. Such was his influence, Pele was included in Time’s list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, along with the likes of Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill.  

Even in Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning side, which is famed as the greatest team ever to play international football, he is still viewed as the brightest of all the stars. He won the Ballon d’Or, football’s most prestigious annual award for the world’s best player, seven times. In Brazil, he is lauded as a god-like figure, while he remains adored the world over.

The feats over the last decade and more of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have led to many hailing them as the greatest footballers ever, while Maradona is also considered a better player than Pele by a huge number of fans.

But many of the other players considered among the best of all time have hailed Pele as the greatest of them all. Johan Cruyff said Pele “was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic”, while German legend Franz Beckenbauer Pele “is the greatest player of all time. He reigned supreme for 20 years. There’s no one to compare with him”. Ferenc Puskas said: “The greatest player in history was (Alfredo) Di Stefano. I refuse to classify Pele as a player. He was above that.”

Pele is also famed for his sportsmanship, with his warm embrace of England captain Bobby Moore following their titanic battle at the 1970 World Cup one of the defining images of his career.

Moore once said of him: “Pele was the most complete player I’ve ever seen, he had everything. Two good feet. Magic in the air. Quick. Powerful. Could beat people with skill. Could outrun people. Only five feet and eight inches tall, yet he seemed a giant of an athlete on the pitch. Perfect balance and impossible vision. He was the greatest because he could do anything and everything on a football pitch.’

Including Kely Nascimento and Edinho, Pele had seven known children, although it is claimed that he fathered more. In a Netflix documentary, Pele admitted that he had so many affairs that he had lost count of them and had no idea how many children he had. He married Marcia Aoki in 2016, having been married twice previously.

When his playing career ended in 1977 following a spell at New York Cosmos, where his superstardom helped to kick-start widespread public awareness of soccer in the United States, Pele earned huge sums endorsing products, and also became involved in ambassadorial work, including for UNESCO. He also played a role in helping Rio de Janeiro win the hosting rights for the 2016 Olympics.

But his legacy remains simple and summed up by his enduring nickname: the King.

• A Daily Mail report