Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player, has died at the age of 82

After a battle with colon cancer, the three-time World Cup winner passed suddenly in Sao Paulo.

It has been announced that Brazilian icon Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, has passed away at the age of 82, leaving the football world in sadness.

Pele was taken to the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo at the end of November so he could keep fighting colon cancer.

Doctors had previously stated in December that the sickness was advancing, which raised serious concerns about the three-time World Cup winner’s condition.

The death of a football legend was confirmed on Thursday.

Marcia Aoki, Pele’s third wife, and his seven kids are still living.

Pele scored a lot of goals during his playing career, and many people think he was one of the best, if not the best, footballers ever.

Since winning the first of his three World Cups at the age of 17 in the 1958 tournament in Sweden, he has been admired in his native Brazil.

Pele scored six goals during the tournament, including a hat-trick against France in the semifinal and a pair of goals against Sweden in the final.

Pele and Brazil would go on to win the 1962 World Cup in Chile despite having to miss most of the competition due to injuries.

Pele saw World Cup success once more as a member of the dominant Brazil team that won the tournament in Mexico in 1970.

READ ALSO: Family Gathers at Soccer Icon Pele’s Hospital Bedside

Pele spent the most of his club career with Santos in Brazil, making his debut for the coastal club in the state of Sao Paulo in 1956 at the age of 15.

By the time he left the team in 1974, he had won the Brazilian league six times and both the continental and world championships twice.

Pele was known for being a great goal scorer. When he left the Brazilian national team in 1971, he had scored 77 goals in 92 games, a record that Neymar just recently beat.

In 1977, Pele retired from club play at the New York Cosmos.

In his post-playing days, Pele was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1994 and a UN Ambassador for Ecology and the Environment in 1992.

Pele earned an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1997, serving as yet another indication of his widespread fame.

In addition, France Football changed its rule in the mid-1990s to allow players from outside Europe to compete for the Ballon d’Or, and Pele was given seven previous awards for the title in 2015.