Pelé shone in his professional debut aged 15, but returned to amateur

Pelé was only 15 years, ten months and 14 days old when, sitting on the dugout of the extinct dirt field at the Américo Guazzelli stadium, in Vila Alzira, in Santo André, he was surprised to hear the screams of coach Luís Alonso Pérez, the Lula.

“Gasoline, come on,” yelled the coach, calling the then number 15 by the first nickname he gained upon his arrival at Santos.

Franzino, at that moment, won the chance to debut as a professional when he entered during the second half of the friendly against Corinthians de Santo André, on September 7, 1956.

In the very first shot, he passed by two defenders, one of them playing the ball between his legs, and scored the first of 1,283 career goals. Folha da Manhã recorded, on page 7 of the General Affairs area, the debut of the King.

The note highlighted that Santos, in that game, ended up using the starters to do a “tough exercise, with a view to Sunday’s match, in Jaú”. At the end of the week, the alvinegra formation would defeat XV de Jaú by 3 to 1, for the Campeonato Paulista.

Without fuss, the newspaper reported Pelé’s goal in the 25th minute of the second half, to an audience of 39,000 people. In 2016, the King went to the headquarters of Sheet on a visit that marked the 60th anniversary of his first citation in the pages of the publication.

The premiere was also recorded by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo.

“In the final stage, it was up to Del Vecchio, Telé and Jair to score the other points, while Vilmar scored the only point for Corinthians”.

The mention of the report as “Telé”, in times of considerably limited communication, was still repeated in the team lineups. Without pomp or glamour, the King of Football had his name confused on his debut.

“Pelé, at that time, was still living at Dona Georgina’s pension. He arrived, played a few games for the youth team [sub-17] and then it began to be tested in training among professionals. It’s curious because even after the goal he returns to the amateurs again”, says professor Guilherme Nascimento, historian of Assophis (Association of Researchers and Historians of Santos FC).

“Only the following year, on June 25, 1957, would he sign his first professional contract”, he adds.

In addition to the confusion made by the newspaper, in the same match, pollster Nelson Cerchiari committed another gaffe. He scored the King’s first goal for Raimundinho. The player, like Pelé, had entered the second half.

The mistake was corrected only 13 years later, by hand, by Cerchiari himself – who had kept the scoresheet and heard an interview with Pelé, years later, about his first goal for Santos. The material was later donated to the Museum of Santo André, according to a report by ESPN in 2019.

Days after the debut of his dreams, with the right to a goal, Pelé would return to reality: playing for the Campeonato Amador de Santos.

According to a survey by Santos FC’s Memory and Statistics Center, on September 9, 1956, he participated in scoring in the 4-0 rout against CA Lanus, in Ulrico Mursa. Three days later, he played in the 3-1 victory over AP Praia, in Vila Belmiro – both are not included in the accounting of games and goals as a professional.

Santos still had to reject the first proposal to negotiate Pelé right away. The newspaper A Gazeta Esportiva published on September 12 of that year that the club had said no to the proposal from Ferroviário (PR) to have him on loan.

“The veteran José Ferreira, who defended Santos in 1935 and is now the coach of the club from Curitiba, was in this city trying to get him on loan. However, we can say that the champion does not intend to give up Pelé”, he says in an excerpt.

The report also states that one of the bases for the attack was the fact that Pelé was still “stuck in his studies”.

Even though he was already desired by another team and with a goal in his only professional commitment, the King of Football continued to act as an amateur.

On September 22, alongside the legendary winger Dorval, he participated in the 7-1 defeat of Comercial Santista FC, a team from Cubatão. The match was friendly, in the Vila Fabril neighborhood. Pele scored four goals.

In the records told by the former mayor of the municipality, Romeu Magalhães, Pelé even played before the game running after hens and chicks that were on the edge of the newly opened field.

“The future King of Football, who was still called Gasolina by teammates, played his first matches for the Santos team and already showed that he would be, in the not too distant future, a differentiated star”, recorded Santos in 2016 about the confrontation.

Not even the repercussions led Pelé to an immediate rise to the professional ranks that year. He would play eight more matches as an amateur – seven of them in 1956, one in January 1957.

On November 15, 1956, he played his second and last professional game that year, in a friendly trophy against Jabaquara. Santos won 4-2, with a goal from the King.

“Coutinho, in terms of joviality, precocity, went beyond Pelé. And Pelé, despite being more frail, was already an athlete. There is no specific reason why they held back a little longer”, explains Nascimento.

The following year, Pelé would win the title at Santos and would reach the Brazilian national team for the first time, participating with a goal in the Copa Roca, a traditional friendly tournament between Brazil and Argentina, in Maracanã.

The country ended up defeated by 2-1 to their South American rivals, with a goal by Pelé. Less than a year later, he would win the first World Cup of his career, in Sweden.

According to surveys by Santos himself, in 1957 there were 57 goals in 31 matches played

Pelé, confused by Tele and Raimundinho in his debut, died the King of Football this Thursday (29), due to multiple organ failure as a result of the progression of colon cancer.

The wake is scheduled to take place at the Urbano Caldeira stadium, Vila Belmiro, in Santos, on Monday (2), starting at 10am, and will be open to the public.