Podcast

Explaining Brazil #225: The Brazilian king of the world

Pelé — the greatest player in the history of football — was admitted to hospital last week. He has been battling colon cancer since last year and now suffers from a respiratory infection. 

According to some reports, Pelé stopped responding to chemotherapy and has been placed under palliative care to ease his pain. The most recent doctor’s report from São Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital says he is responding well to treatment for the infection but makes no mention of whether will resume chemotherapy.

Concerns about Pelé’s health have spilled over into the World Cup, with players from all over the world voicing their support for the football legend. The Brazilian players held out a banner in his honor after their 4-1 trashing of South Korea on Monday. 

To close the 2022 season of our Explaining Brazil podcast, we’re publishing a rerun of an episode about Pelé, and how he cemented his status as the best ever to play the game. The episode was in a three-part series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1970 World Cup, when Brazil became the first team to win three world titles.

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Listen to the series:

  • Episode 1: we tell the story of João Saldanha, Brazil’s coach before the 1970 tournament and a card-carrying communist under a brutal military dictatorship.
  • Episode 2: we explore an often-overlooked facet of the 1970 World Cup. Pelé was the tournament’s hero, and winning the trophy cemented his place as the greatest player ever to play the game.
  • Episode 3: we turn our attention to the grand finale between Brazil and Italy, and unpick some long-held misconceptions about the two teams and the decisive match itself.

This episode used music from Uppbeat. License codes: A2SPG00WU8UXGQL1, FKIRIX6THLVYDWDP

Background reading:

Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at podcast@brazilian.report

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Euan Marshall

Originally from Scotland, Euan Marshall traded Glasgow for São Paulo in 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics, and the connection between the two, he authored a comprehensive history of Brazilian soccer entitled “A to Zico: An Alphabet of Brazilian Football.”

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