He was hailed as the greatest footballer of all time and served his country as Sports Minister and ambassador at large. But last week Brazil watched with dismay as Pele's golden reputation was tarnished by allegations that his sports company had stolen $700,000 (£450,000) of charity money.
The money from Unicef, paid in 1995 for a benefit match, was not returned after the game was cancelled. Pele, promising a full investigation, revealed he was closing down Pele Sports & Marketing. On Friday he told TV news he suspected his business partner of the past 20 years, Helio Viana, had stolen up to $10 million (about £7m) from his company, including the Unicef money.
Brazilians have been shocked by the allegations, which come at the end of a year in which Pele's image reached its lowest ebb since he hung up his boots 24 years ago. Now 61, he lives in both New York and São Paulo.
In June Viana was accused of five crimes in the final report of a parliamentary investigation into corruption in Brazilian football. Pele says he had suspected for five years that his company was being mismanaged and ordered a final audit before it was wound up.
Juca Kfouri, Brazil's leading sports journalist and a former Pele confidant, said: 'Pele has had problems with his business partners before, but he cannot claim ingenuousness any more. People used to excuse him by saying, "Look, Pele is young, he is naive, he had a poor upbringing." This is fine when he is aged 20, but at 61...'
He added: 'Of course Pele didn't steal the money. But when he starts trying to get involved with [Brazilian football businessmen], this kind of thing is bound to happen.'
In 1995 PS&M signed a contract to organise a fundraising football game for Unicef-Argentina, for which Pele would provide services for free. But the Folha de São Paulo newspaper discovered a parallel contract in which a Miami-based company would pay Pele $3 million for the event. A $3m loan was arranged with an Argentine bank and $700,000 was transferred to PS&M before the bank went bust. The Unicef game never happened.
Pele was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in 1940. He became a professional footballer at 15 and began the most glittering career in the game's history. He played in four World Cups - of which Brazil won three - and scored 1,281 goals in 1,375 games before retiring in 1977. The striker is unusual among Brazilian footballers in that he found a successful career beyond the game.
In 1993 he gave a famous interview in which he denounced the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) for corruption. He became a role model in Brazil's attempt to modernise itself after two decades of military rule.
The interview also resulted in the most high-profile feud in world football, when the CBF and FIFA retaliated by excluding Pele from the 1994 World Cup launch ceremony.
Between 1995 and 1998 Pele was Extraordinary Minister for Sports. He drafted legislation to break down the power of football's vested interests. At the time it was widely seen as an altruistic act, as he pitted himself against the establishment in the name of transparency and fairness. Increasingly journalists are reassessing Pele's foray into politics as self-serving, since the reforms were also a way of giving his sports companies more of Brazilian football's lucrative market.
Last year Brazil's congress started two investigations into football. As the inquiries uncovered evidence of financial crimes, Pele called a truce with the CBF in February this year. His about-face was described by the congressman leading the inquiry as a back-room deal to protect Pele's companies, which were also being investigated. One newspaper wrote: 'Pele has let us all down. He has sold his soul to the devil.'
A few months later Helio Viana was accused of five crimes, and Ricardo Teixeira, the CBF president, accused of 13. Pele was not personally accused of anything.
Last week, at the launch of a fundraising campaign, he said he had not known the Unicef money had gone astray. 'I have helped Unicef for 32 years, and whoever knows me knows that I would never [steal its money].'
Sergio Xavier Filho, editor of the football magazine Placar and author of a book on Pele, said Pele's fall from grace was emotionally difficult for his countrymen. 'Brazilians have always made the mistake that they wanted Pele to be the same person in business and politics that he was as a player. It is very difficult for us to admit he is nothing more than a footballer - okay, the best footballer of all time - but still just a footballer, with a footballer's limitations.
'He is a fantastically lovely and lovable bloke. But he believes in everyone and because of this ends up being incompetent... he is almost a child when it comes to responsibility.
'In football administration there are more bad people than good people. The chances of Pele mixing with bad people is greater.'
Pele: rise and fall of a legend
1940 Edson Arantes do Nascimento is born in Tres Coraçãos, Minas Gerais state, Brazil
1956 Signs professional contract with Santos FC
1957 First national cap. He scores Brazil's only goal
1958 Wins first World Cup
1962 Injured in second game of World Cup. Brazil win again
1969 Scores 1,000th professional goal - a feat still unequalled in football
1970 Wins third World Cup
1974 Retires from Santos FC
1975 Signs for New York Cosmos - partly because he has debts from failed investments
1977 Retires again
1991 Pele and Helio Viana found Pele Sports & Marketing
1993 Accuses Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) of corruption
1995 Made Extraordinary Minister for Sport
2000 Is named FIFA's Player of the Century
2001 Ends feud with CBF. Helio Viana accused of five crimes in final report of parliamentary investigation into football.
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