Pele’s World Cup journey: From Sweden 1958 to Mexico 1970
Pele has died at the age of 82.
The Brazilian was arguably the best player to reach the World Cup finals and won football’s biggest prize three times.
Here, the PA news agency takes a tournament-by-tournament look at his career in the sport’s biggest event.
Sweden 1958
Pele missed the first two matches due to injury before making his World Cup debut against the Soviet Union.
His first goal came in the 1-0 quarter-final win over Wales and he scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against France.
Aged 17 years and 239 days, Pele became the youngest player to appear in a World Cup final and scored twice – the first with a flick over a defender and volley into the corner of the net – as Brazil beat hosts Sweden 5-2 .
Chile 1962
At this point, Pele had star billing, but while Brazil retained the trophy, their talisman missed most of the tournament through injury.
He set up a goal and scored a memorable second goal, floating past four defenders, in the first game against Mexico but tore a hamstring against Czechoslovakia, bringing his World Cup campaign to a premature end.
Instead, Garrincha inspired Brazil to glory as they beat the Czechs 3-1 in the final.
England 1966
Brazil traveled to England with high hopes of a hat-trick of triumphs but Pele is singled out for brutal treatment in the first game against Bulgaria.
He found the net with a free kick, becoming the first man to score in three consecutive tournaments.
Pele missed the subsequent defeat to Hungary as a result of his injuries but was brought back to face Portugal, who dished out some more horror tackles as Brazil were effectively kicked out of the tournament.
Mexico in 1970
Pele had vowed never to play in the World Cup again but changed his mind and was awarded a third winner’s medal.
He almost scored from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia and came up with an unforgettable save from Gordon Banks against England as Brazil swept everyone aside, culminating in a 4-1 drubbing of Italy in the final.
Pele’s perfectly weighted pass to Carlos Alberto for Brazil’s fourth goal capped off one of the all-time great moves by arguably the best team in World Cup history.