Should you ever need a reminder of how good Pelé was at football, just look up his name in a Portuguese dictionary.
The Brazilian football legend, who passed away in December, has been added to the Portuguese edition of the Michaelis dictionary as an adjective to describe someone or something “out of the ordinary.”
The move comes after a “Pelé in the dictionary” campaign, organized by the Pelé Foundation and SporTV, gained more than 125,000 signatures.
A definition of “Pelé” in the Michaelis dictionary now reads: “What or who is out of the ordinary, what or who by virtue of their quality, value, or superiority cannot be equaled to anything or anyone, just like Pelé, nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940–2022), considered to be the greatest athlete of all time; exceptional, incomparable, unique.
“Examples: He is the Pelé of basketball; she is the Pelé of tennis; she is the Pelé of Brazilian dramaturgy.”
Pelé, a three-time World Cup winner, is considered by many to be football’s first global superstar and one of the greatest players of all time.
The announcement that his name had been added to the dictionary was made at a sports industry summit in So Paulo, Brazil, where his family received a plaque displaying the definition.
“His name in the dictionary is a very important piece of his legacy that will keep Pelé alive forever,” said Joe Fraga, executive director of the Pelé Foundation, according to Reuters.
Source: Reuters
