1 The Boy Who Loved Soccer

CHAPTER 1 The Boy Who Loved Soccer Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940, in the tiny village of Três Cora..es Brazil. Even in 1940, there were many parts of the world that did not have electricity. Most of southeastern Brazil was one of those areas. In honor of their village finally getting electricity, Edson's parents named their first son after the American inventor Thomas Edison. Edson's father was named Jo.o Ramos but went by the nickname Dondinho. Most Brazilian men are known by a nickname. He was a soccer player for the town's team. Edson's mother was named Celeste. Two years later, his mother had another son, Jair. Edson had not yet been nicknamed "Pelé."

Like all Brazilians, the Nascimento family spoke Portuguese. Brazil had been a colony of Portugal until 1822, when it gained independence. In the 1700s and 1800s, millions of Africans had been brought to Brazil as slaves to work for the Portuguese. The Nascimento family had ancestors among those African people, so Edson had very dark skin.

Dondinho loved playing soccer and hoped that his sons would follow him. But playing professional soccer was not an easy life. In Brazil at this time, every village and town had a team. But only the very top players on the biggest teams earned the best salaries. The smaller teams, like the one in Três Cora..es and nearby towns, could not pay their players well. And that made life hard for Edson's family. They lived in a brick house that was nearly falling down in places. And Edson didn't own a pair of shoes until he was seven years old.

In 1943, Edson's sister was born. She was named Maria Lúcia. When Edson was four, Dondinho was asked to play for a team in Bauru, a larger town to the south. He was also promised a second job for when he was not playing soccer. This was good news for the family. On the way to Bauru, Edson was excited to ride a train for the first time. He was thrilled to see the country of Brazil rush by the open window. He nearly fell out of one before being caught by Dondinho!

Life in Bauru was not easy. The family's house was also very crowded. Edson's grandmother and his uncle Jorge had also moved to Bauru so the family could stay together. The house had only a small backyard, and it was often muddy. They had no air conditioning in the steamy summers. And they heated the house

during the winters with a woodstove, which they also used for cooking. It was Edson's job to stack the wood that was delivered to the house each week. Dondinho's team did not provide the second job it had promised him. And he had injured his knee, which meant he could not play all the time. Sometimes the family struggled just to have enough to eat. Their relatives tried to help them out. Even Edson had to help. He worked as a shoeshine boy at the railroad station. He also sometimes worked at the soccer stadium when Dondinho played. He loved watching his tall, strong father leap above the other teams' players to knock the ball into the goal with his head.