Records set by Pele that will stand forever
Pele, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely considered the best to have ever played the sport of football.
This is mainly because of his exploits in front of goal which saw him score more than 1000 officially recorded goals in a career that spanned three decades. With him leading Brazil’s attack, the Selecao stormed to three World Cup titles and were one of the most feared teams in the world.
At club level, Pele was mostly a one-club man as he is more associated with his time at Santos FC in the Brazilian Serie A than the other clubs he played for. While at Santos, Pele set and broke a number of records in football which still stand today.
He has had stiff competition from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who have also set some records of their own. However, there are some records set by the legendary Pele that will stand the test of time forever.
Here is a list of five records that Pele set that cannot be broken by any footballer’.
Youngest World Cup winner
Kylian Mbappe is the rave of the moment and his time in the spotlight began after his incredible performance for France in the 2018 World Cup at the age of 18. He has been referred to as the new Pele, but that would be putting too much pressure on the young star.
Pele started his journey to the limelight at 16, much like Mbappe, but at 17, he was already a World Cup winner. Not only was he selected for the Brazil 1958 World Cup squad, but he was key to their triumph at that tournament and finished as the top scorer of the tournament.
Four players younger than Pele have been to the World Cup since 1958, but none have won the tournament, or even reached the semi-final.
Most World Cup wins
Many players dream of playing in more than one Mundial and a few go on to win them. It is even a bigger rarity to see players who win more than one World Cup medal, but Pele has won three.
Two of those medals came in back-to-back tournaments, which is also another record as no team has successfully defended the World Cup. This is an incredible record which will stand the test of time.
Youngest World Cup hattrick
Pele is also the record holder for the youngest player to score a hattrick at the Mundial in the same year he won his first World Cup. Up against a super France team, Pele scored a hattrick in 23 minutes in the semi-finals of the tournament to send Brazil to the final and eventually win the title.
It will interest you to know that Pele did not play the first two group games for Brazil but finished as the tournament’s top goalscorer. Also, no other teenager has scored a World Cup hat-trick, with the next youngest being a 20-year-old Hungarian Florian Albert in 1962.
Most goals in a professional career
Pele’s whopping 1,283 goals will never be topped by another player. The two icons of the modern game, Messi and Ronaldo, are beasts in front of goal but have only been able to cross the 700-goal mark so far. With both players in their 30s and retirement drawing near, Pele’s goal record will stand.
There is the prospect of Erling Haaland or Mbappe coming close to this record but these two young goal machines are closer to Messi and Ronaldo than they are to Pele’s goal record. The world will never see a better goalscorer.
Most hattricks in a professional career
Scoring goals is one thing, but a player with the ability to score multiple goals in a game is a gem. Pele scored 92 hattricks in his career against some of the toughest teams in an era where cards were a foreign concept to football.
Messi and Ronaldo, who are second and third on the list, have only crossed the 50-hattrick mark. Breaking Pele’s record will mean they have to score more than 40 hattricks in what is left of their career, which is impossible.
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