On August 28, 1977, Brazilian soccer legend Pelé played in the final non-exhibition match of his career, the North American Soccer League championship, where his New York Cosmos defeated the Seattle Sounders 2-1. Pelé is widely considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest soccer player of all time. He spent the majority of his career with the Brazilian club Santos and his three final seasons with the Cosmos. Pelé is the all-time leading goalscorer of his country Brazil, with 77 goals in international competition, and contributed to three World Cup wins. He is the youngest player to score a hat trick in a World Cup game and the youngest player to both play and score in a World Cup final—he helped his country win the 1958 World Cup at just 17 years old. He is also his club team Santos’ all-time leading goalscorer with 643 goals in 656 games and holds the world record for most career goals with 1,283 in 1,363 career matches. While Pelé would play one more exhibition match later that year in October—a friendly between his two teams, Santos and the Cosmos, in which he played one half for each team—his final competitive game was leading the Cosmos to a championship.
