Pele:Nilikuwa masikini sana

 

My earliest footballing memory was running around the streets of Bauru with a group of my friends. 

We couldn’t stop thinking about football and would play from day to night.

 At the time, we were very poor and could not afford a ball.

 So we used anything we could to kick around – such as a stuffed sock, a grapefruit, anything to play the game. 

 I am very thankful to soccer. It gave a poor kid from Brazil a purpose in life and took him around the globe. 

I believe that the Beautiful Game helps bring people together and makes them more sensitive to the world around them.

The most important goal I scored was my first goal in the 1958 World Cup against Wales in the quarter-finals. I became the youngest World Cup goalscorer of all time at the age of 17. 

Also, my 1,000th goal [for Santos against Vasco da Gama in November 1969] was amazing even though it was a penalty kick. 

When I saw the reaction of the crowd, I cried and dedicated it to all the kids on the streets of Brazil and for their education. 

Edson Arantes do Nascimento , Pele