The best player of all time was Pelé.

A common tongue was Pelé's brilliance before the emergence of minute-by-minute media that crossed continents, which established some degree of a global information dialect, which rinsed sports through its wash cycle, and which partially unspooled into GOAT argument hokum.

Pelé was officially designated a "national treasure" by Brazil's president Jânio Quadros in 1961, just one World Cup victory and a few club championships into his legendary career. This legally protected Pelé from being ejected from Santos in So Paulo at a time when Europe was emerging as the hub of football talent and resources. Pelé suffered an injury in the opening match of the 1962 World Cup, missing Brazil's quest for a second championship. He was brutally tackled in the knees by the opposing defenders in 1966, preventing Brazil from moving past the group stage.

Pelé's greatness, skill, flare, and improvisation were therefore universally accepted by 1970, yet they also contained elements of a fantastic tale. The ideal setting to unequivocally display it? The World Cup that summer, the first to be live-broadcast to a global audience. And he did, especially in the championship game's convincing 4-1 victory over Italy, where he scored the game's first goal with a beautiful header and contributed to its conclusion with one of the all-time great passes during a legendary sequence.

He's made of skin and bones like everyone else, I told myself before the game, said Italian defender Tarcisio Burgnich, who was tasked with tracking Pelé. But I was mistaken.

After Pelé passed away on Thursday at the age of 82, tributes poured in. Since that tournament in 1970, Pelé's unrivaled iconography has only grown, in large part because of those who spread it earlier than now.

CRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ Cruyff, Johan Beckenbauer, Franz Di Stéfano, Alfredo. Puskás, Ferenc. Robert Charlton Robert Moore

Each is a contender for the best and most significant players in history.

They were all vocal in their admiration for Pelé.

"Pelé is not a player in my eyes. Despite that, he "Puskás, a Hungarian striker whose name still appears on FIFA's official goal of the year award, was hailed as the first international superstar in the sport.

Ronaldo, whose immense individual and club success in the current age has pushed his status into rarefied air, claimed that Pelé was the best player in football history and that there would only ever be one Pelé in the world.

The positional innovator Beckenbauer, who may be the greatest defender ever and brought a ton of medals to both Germany and Bayern Munich, said of him, "He is the most complete player I ever saw.

Cruyff, whose "Total Football" philosophy redefined the game first at the club level with Barcelona and then at the international level with the Netherlands, claimed that "Pelé was the only footballer who transcended the bounds of logic."

Pep Guardiola, whom Cruyff mentored at Barça, was primarily Cruyff's ideological heir. And when Guardiola led Barça himself, Lionel Messi served as the team's star player. According to some accounts, Messi's World Cup victory earlier this month propelled him beyond Pelé or put him shoulder to shoulder with him.

No need to go over that again. We won't discuss historical eras or who advances the most past the bar. Simply stating that there was no bar prior to Pelé will suffice.

No player has received as much adulation as Pelé. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the global information dialect has gotten too large for its own good, with people speaking falsely just to attract attention, and there are too many slobs who are eager to have their preferences recognized, permanently contaminating the well stream and preventing any player from ever receiving universal acclaim again.

That conversation is more complicated. Pelé was undoubtedly the greatest player ever, according to the greatest players.

The most accomplished Englishman ever, Charlton, stated, "I sometimes feel as though football was invented for this magical guy."

that there was no bar prior to Pelé.

"Pelé, the greatest athlete ever. Although Pelé was superior, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are excellent players with distinct strengths "Di Stéfano, a Spanish international of Argentinean descent whose goal-scoring prowess served as the cornerstone for both Real Madrid and the tournament that is now known as the Champions League, said.

"I recall a Brazilian journalist asking [former Brazil manager Joo Saldanha] who his best goalkeeper was. He uttered Pelé. He was capable of playing in any position "Moore, who Pelé himself referred to as the best defender he had ever faced, said this.

Diego Maradona ultimately won the online fan poll, which was heavily slanted toward the younger, more technologically adept generation, and split the FIFA Player of the Century award with the brazen supernova that was Pelé. FIFA intervened and questioned a group of reporters, officials, and coaches. Over 70% of the vote went to Pelé.

Even Maradona was able to generate some of his own glowing accolades. Maradona stated, "It's too bad we never got along, but he was a tremendous player."

Players never even dared attempt the daring maneuvers we see all over the field now before Pelé. The No. 10 jersey was just another squad number before Pelé. Before Pelé, no one was truly certain that there could be a "best soccer player of all time."

Everyone agreed on who it was after Pelé.

I have to be honest and say that I felt like clapping when Pelé scored the fifth goal in [the 1958 World Cup final]," admitted Swedish defender Sigge Parling.

People simply responded that way to Pelé. the greatest athlete to ever compete in his sport.