early life

elé was born in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the son of Fluminense footballer Dondinho(born João Ramos do Nascimento) and Celeste Arantes. He was the elder of two siblings.^[28] He was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison.^[1][29] His parents decided to remove the "i" and call him "Edson", but there was a mistake on the birth certificate, leading many documents to show his name as "Edison", not "Edson", as he is called.^[1][30][31] He was originally nicknamed Dico by his family.^[15][28][32] He received the nickname "Pelé" during his school days, when it is claimed he was given it because of his pronunciation of the name of his favorite player, local Vasco da Gamagoalkeeper Bilé, which he misspoke but the more he complained the more it stuck. In his autobiography, Pelé stated he had no idea what the name means, nor did his old friends.^[28] Apart from the assertion that the name is derived from that of Bilé, and that it is Hebrew for "miracle," the word has no known meaning in Portuguese.^[33]

Pelé grew up in poverty in Bauru, São Paulo. He earned extra money by working in tea shops as a servant. Taught to play by his father, he could not afford a proper football and usually played with either a sock stuffed with newspaper and tied with a string or a grapefruit.^[28][34] Pelé played for several amateur teams in his youth, including Sete de Setembro, Canto do Rio, São Paulinho, and Amériquinha.^[35][36]

Pelé played in Bauru. He led Bauru Athletic Club juniors (coached by Waldemar de Brito) to three consecutive São Paulo state youth championships between 1954 and 1956.^[37] He also dominated Futebol de Salão (indoor football) competitions in the region and won several championships with local team Radium.

"In my mid-teens I also played indoor football, which had just taken off in Bauru, for a team called Radium, and took part in the first futebol de salão championship to be held in Bauru. We won. Futebol de salão was a new thing and I took to it like a fish to water. It’s a lot quicker than football on grass. You have to think really quickly because everyone is close to each other. Learning the game probably helped me think on my feet better. It was through futebol de salão that I first got my chance to play with adults. I was about fourteen, and I can remember that there was a tournament for which I was told I was too young to take part. In the end, I was allowed to play. I ended up top scorer, with fourteen or fifteen goals. That gave me a lot of confidence. I knew then not to be afraid of whatever might come."

— Pelé speaking on Futebol de Salão.