Brazil

Pele

Pele (born Edson Arantes do Nascimento) (1940 –  ) is widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time.  Pele’s career lasted an amazing 20 years.  In 1999, he was votedFootball Player of the Century by the IFFHS International Federation of Football History and Statistics. In the same year French weekly magazine France-Football consulted their former “Ballon D’Or” winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. Pelé came in first position. In 1999 the International Olympic Committee named Pelé the “Athlete of the Century”. In his career he scored 760 official goals, 541 in league championships, making him the top scorer of all time. In total Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 games.

Pelé is  hailed as a national hero in Brazil. He is known for his accomplishments and contributions to the game of football. Pele is also acknowledged for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor (when he scored his 1,000th goal he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil). During his career, he became known as “The King of Football” (O Rei do Futebol), “The King Pelé” (O Rei Pelé) or simply “The King” (O Rei).

This video features Pele’s top 20 goals caught on film!

Ronaldinho

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (1980 –  ), commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder orforward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, in 2004 and 2005.

Before Ronaldinho’s move to Flamengo, he played for Paris Saint-Germain F.C., FC Barcelona and A.C. Milan. With the Spanish club, Ronaldinho won his first Champions League in 2006 and the Ballon d’Or in 2005. He became a Spanish citizen in January 2007.

Ronaldinho was also named in the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest footballers compiled by fellow countryman Pelé, and in the FIFPro World XI consecutively from 2004–2007.

Watch Ronaldinho’s top 10 goals!