BRAZILIAN football legend Pelé has passed away at the age of 82, his manager has confirmed.
Considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, the former Santos and New York Cosmos striker had been battling colon cancer in recent weeks, with his family stating that he had stopped responding to chemotherapy.
On Thursday Pelé's manager confirmed that he had passed away in hospital in Sao Paulo.
Having grown up in poverty in Bauru in the state of São Paulo, the 'Black Pearl' as he was sometimes known was a prodigious talent.
He made his debut for Santos at the age of 16 before being given his first Brazil cap a year later.
At the age of just 17 he was instrumental as the Selecao lifted the World Cup in 1958, a feat he would repeat in 1970.
It was the style and grace Pelé brought to the pitch which led to it being popularly dubbed 'The Beautiful Game', with Nelson Mandela once declaring "to watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full" and contemporary Ferenc Puskas insisting "I refuse to classify him as a player - he was above that".
In his extraordinary career with Santos, Pelé routinely scored more goals than he played games, helping his side win six Serie A titles, two Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup twice.
Such was his fame, the Brazilian side would regularly play exhibition matches in Europe in front of full stadiums.
Pelé was revered around the world but in his homeland his status approached divinity. He was often referred to simply as O Rey: The King.
He would hit 77 goals in 92 games for his country, as well as an official total for Santos of 643 goals in 659 appearances.
Pelé was later instrumental in the rise of football in the USA for his performances for the New York Cosmos.
He is, by some estimates, the record goalscorer in football history and personally claimed to have hit more than 1,000 goals.
While his claimed tally of 1,281 goals in 1,363 games is disputed as many came in friendly matches or during his military service, it should be noted that the tours undertaken with Santos and the Cosmos were regularly treated as competitive fixtures by the host teams.
Whatever the official figure, Pelé's name will be remembered as long as boys and girls are kicking a ball.
As the great artist Andy Warhol once said: "Pelé was one of the few who contradicted my theory: instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries."
