CHAPTER FIVE:

PelE COMES TO
NEW YORK

After retiring from his boyhood club, Santos, Pelé made the decision to finish his professional career as part of the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He joined in 1975 and played through 1977, drawing massive crowds and changing the trajectory of the league during his tenure in New York. He was nicknamed O Rei (The King) and the term “the beautiful game” was reportedly coined watching Pelé. With 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil, Pelé held the record as the national team’s top goalscorer for over fifty years, until Neymar surpassed his total.

(Photo credit: Getty Images Archive via CNN)

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CHAPTER FIVE

PELE COMES TO NEW YORK

Clive Toye, the New York Cosmos general manager, believed the team and NASL needed star power to succeed. With that as his mantra, Toye had one goal – to sign Pelé. Initially, Pelé said no. Pelé retired after 19 seasons with Santos in 1974. He was done playing for his lifelong club and, by all accounts, not planning to play again. But Pelé finally gave in and came out of retirement in 1975; the North American Soccer League and Cosmos got their man for $1.67M per year, and three years.

For three years that followed, Pele quite simply captivated the imagination of America and opened their eyes

Even past his prime, coming out of retirement, Pele dazzled on the field. He had 37 goals in just 64 games and led the Cosmos to the 1977 Soccer Bowl, in his third and final season with the club. That game drew 62,394 fans to Giants Stadium. It wasn’t even the largest crowd during their run to the championship. In the first leg of the quarter-finals, they attracted a US record crowd of 77,891.

(Photo credit: The Right Winger via Logodesignlove.com)

Our GUEST

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. He also was the soccer columnist for the New York Daily News for 22 years. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island, New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists and United Soccer Coaches (formerly National Soccer Coaches Association of America), is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written nine books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. He is also a member of four Halls of Fame, including the Eastern New York Soccer Hall and Long Island Soccer Football League Soccer Hall.

Here are links to Michael’s books:

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

To learn more about Pelé and his importance to the growth of the game in America, we recommend the following resources.

Books

Why Soccer Matters: A Look at More Than Sixty Years of International Soccer by Pelé
Pelé: My Story Paperback by Pelé

Articles

Our PERSPECTIVE

Even past his prime, pulled out of retirement, Pelé proved that given the right ingredients, this country could be pulled into the passion that surrounds the beautiful game globally. That we could become part of the ecosystem of football that connects fans in Argentina with rivals in Brazil. Or that delivers drama shared between citizens of Barcelona with their distant neighbors in Paris.

Pelé proved that we could love the game to the level of selling out Giants Stadium, many times. He showed us that a professional league in America. given the right balance of foreign talent injection and sustainable practices – a balance that was reached briefly in the North American Soccer League – could work, if done correctly and given a chance.