Pelé was a Brazilian professional footballer who represented the Brazil national football team as a forward from 1957 to 1971. Throughout his career, Pelé scored 77 goals in 92 international appearances. He remained Brazil's top goalscorer for over 60 years, before being surpassed by Neymar in 2023. Pelé made his debut for Brazil in a 2–1 defeat against Argentina on 7 July 1957. In that same match, he scored his first international goal aged 16 years and eight months, and remains Brazil's youngest ever goalscorer. Pelé scored seven international hat-tricks, which is still the most of any Brazilian player.

Pelé scored 12 goals in 14 FIFA World Cup appearances spanning four separate World Cups. As of the most recent edition, he is the only footballer to have won three World Cups and is one of only five players, the others being Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, to have scored in four separate ones. At the 1958 FIFA World Cup, Pelé was at the time the youngest player to participate in a World Cup and became the youngest scorer in a World Cup game. He also became the youngest footballer to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, doing so against France in the semifinal. In addition, Pelé achieved the distinction of being the youngest footballer to play in a World Cup final, where he scored two goals to help Brazil beat Sweden 5–2, and the youngest player to win a World Cup. He finished the tournament with six goals, behind a record-breaking Just Fontaine, and was named best young player of the tournament. Following the tournament, he was nicknamed O Rei (The King), and emerged as a worldwide black sporting star.

In the South American Football Championship, Pelé scored six goals in eight appearances, all during the 1959 edition. Although Brazil were runners-up, he was the top scorer and was named best player of the tournament. Pelé scored one goal in the 1962 FIFA World Cup and one in the 1966 edition. He played in six World Cup qualifying matches for the 1970 edition, scoring six goals, and netted four more at the tournament itself. Pelé scored his final international goal on 11 July 1971 against Austria, and made his final appearance for Brazil against Yugoslavia on 18 July 1971. Pelé is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time and was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, while, in 2000, he was voted the World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics and was a joint winner of the FIFA Player of the Century award.

Goals

+ Table keyIndicates Brazil won the matchIndicates the match ended in a drawIndicates Brazil lost the match

+ Cap Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 11 7 July 1957 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1–1 style="text-align: center;" 1957 Roca Cup 22 10 July 1957 Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo, Brazil1–0 style="text-align: center;" 33 4 May 1958 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4–1 style="text-align: center;" 1958 Taça Oswaldo Cruz 4518 May 1958Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo, Brazil2–1 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 53–1 67 19 June 1958 Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 1958 FIFA World Cup 7824 June 1958Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden3–1 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" 84–1 95–1 10929 June 19583–1 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 1958 FIFA World Cup final 115–2 1210 10 March 1959 Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina Peru2–0 style="text-align: center;" 1959 South American Football Championship 131115 March 19591–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 142–0 1512 21 March 1959 1–1 style="text-align: center;" 161429 March 19591–1 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" 173–1 184–1 1915 4 April 1959 1–1 style="text-align: center;" 201717 September 1959Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil1–0 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" 1959 Copa Bernardo O'Higgins 213–0 224–0 23201 May 1960Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt1–0 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 242–0 253–0 2624 12 July 1960 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2–1 style="text-align: center;" 1960 Taça do Atlântico 2725 21 April 1962 2–0 style="text-align: center;" 1962 Taça Oswaldo Cruz 282624 April 1962Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil2–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 293–0 3028 9 May 1962 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1–0 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 3129 12 May 1962 3–1 style="text-align: center;" 323016 May 1962Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil2–1 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 333–1 3431 30 May 1962 Estadio Sausalito, Viña del Mar, Chile 2–0 style="text-align: center;" 1962 FIFA World Cup 353416 April 1963Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil1–0 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" 1963 Roca Cup 363–1 374–1 383628 April 1963Stade de Colombes, Paris, France1–0 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 392–1 403–2 4138 5 May 1963 Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, West Germany 2–1 style="text-align: center;" 4240 30 May 1964 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3–1 style="text-align: center;" Taça das Nações 4342 30 May 1964 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 44432 June 19651–0 rowspan=3 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 452–0 463–0 4744 6 June 1965 Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, West Germany 2–0 style="text-align: center;" 4846 17 June 1965 Ahmed Zabana Stadium, Oran, Algeria 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 4948 30 June 1965 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden 1–1 style="text-align: center;" 50494 July 1965Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union1–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 513–0 5250 21 November 1965 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2–0 style="text-align: center;" 5352 4 June 1966 Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil Peru1–0 style="text-align: center;" 545412 June 1966Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil1–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 552–0 5655 15 June 19661–0 style="text-align: center;" 5758 12 July 1966 Goodison Park, Liverpool, England 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 1966 FIFA World Cup 586025 July 1968Estadio de Puerto Sajonia, Asunción, Paraguay1–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 1968 Taça Oswaldo Cruz 592–0 6063 3 November 1968 Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 2–0 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 6166 17 December 1968 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2–2 style="text-align: center;" 6268 9 April 1969 Peru1–2 style="text-align: center;" 637110 August 1969Estadio Olímpico de la UCV, Caracas, Venezuela2–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification 645–0 6573 21 August 1969 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4–1 style="text-align: center;" 667424 August 19695–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 676–0 6875 31 August 1969 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 6977 8 March 1970 2–1 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 707822 March 1970Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil4–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 715–0 7283 3 June 1970 Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico 2–1 style="text-align: center;" 1970 FIFA World Cup 738510 June 19701–0 rowspan=2 style="text-align: center;" 743–1 7588 21 June 1970 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 1–0 style="text-align: center;" 1970 FIFA World Cup final 7690 4 October 1970 Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile 1–0 style="text-align: center;" Friendly 7791 11 July 1971 Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil 1–0 style="text-align: center;"

Hat-tricks

+ OpponentGoalsScoreVenueCompetitionDate 1 3 – (3–1, 4–1, 5–1) 5–2 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden 1958 FIFA World Cup 24 June 1958 2 3 – (1–1, 3–1, 4–1) 4–1 Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina 1959 South American Football Championship 29 March 1959 3 3 – (1–0, 3–0, 4–0) 7–0 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1959 Copa Bernardo O'Higgins 17 September 1959 4 3 – (1–0, 2–0, 3–0) 3–1 Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt Friendly 1 May 1960 5 3 – (1–0, 3–1, 4–1) 5–2 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1963 Roca Cup 16 April 1963 6 3 – (1–0, 2–1, 3–2) 3–2 Stade de Colombes, Paris, France Friendly 28 April 1963 7 3 – (1–0, 2–0, 3–0) 5–0 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Friendly 2 June 1965

Statistics

+ Appearances and goals by yearYearCompetitiveFriendlyTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals 195722—22 1958572279 195981110911 1960214364 1961——00 1962444488 1963235477 196432—32 1965—8989 1966217495 1967——00 1968225274 1969663197 19706494158 1971—2121 Total424350349277

+Goals by competitionCompetitionAppsGoalsFriendlies5034 FIFA World Cup1412 South American Football Championship68 FIFA World Cup qualification66 Taça Oswaldo Cruz56 Roca Cup45 Taça das Nações32 Copa Bernardo O'Higgins23 Taça do Atlântico21Total9277

+ Goals by opponentOpponentGoals 10 8 8 6 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Total 77

Notes

References