Edson Arantes do Nascimento remembered exactly when he first saw his father weep. It was 1950 and Brazil, appearing in soccer’s World Cup for the first time, had just been beaten by Uruguay.

“My father was crying with a lot of Brazilians,” the man better known as Pelé remembered. “My father used to say, men should be strong. Men doesn’t cry. Then I saw my father cry when Brazil lost the game.

“Then I told him, ‘Father, don’t worry. I’m going to win a World Cup for you.’ … [Six] years later, I was in Sweden with Brazil and Brazil won the World Cup. I was 17 years old. That was a gift from God. I don’t know why I said it, why I promised it to my father.”