text: what is the real name of pele and where was he born?????   edson arantes do nascimento, or better known as pelè was born october 23rd 1940. he went on to become perhaps the best player of all time. he made his senior debut for santos in 1956, a month before his 16th birthday and ten months later he played for brazil against argentina. pelè missed the first two matches of the 1958 world cup, before making his debut against russia. his first world cup goal came in the 1-0 quarter -final win over wales and he scored a hat-trick in the semifinal against france and two more in the final over host nation sweden. at 17, pelé became the youngest ever winner of the world cup. source-sam