What did Pelé collect as a kid?

[Anish]

I read some of Pelé’s autobiography the other day and he mentions collecting soccer stickers in the way that Americans collected baseball cards. Specifically, he and his friends tried to put together a complete album that they could trade for a proper soccer ball.

This was slightly before the 1950 World Cup, so the late 1940’s. Anyone know which set(s) he could have been collecting? I don’t have any Brazilian cards from before the 50’s...

Thanks!

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by Anish

I read some of Pelé’s autobiography the other day and he mentions collecting soccer stickers in the way that Americans collected baseball cards. Specifically, he and his friends tried to put together a complete album that they could trade for a proper soccer ball.

This was slightly before the 1950 World Cup, so the late 1940’s. Anyone know which set(s) he could have been collecting? I don’t have any Brazilian cards from before the 50’s...

Thanks!

Including many of the great stars before him... Leonidas da Silva and Zizinho....

[Anish]

Originally Posted by aljurgela

Including many of the great stars before him... Leonidas da Silva and Zizinho....

Can you direct me to any of these issues?

Thanks

[aljurgela]

For those of you who do not know, Leonidas was probably one of the major "mega stars" of Brazil prior to Pele. (I would probably put Arthur Friedenreich, Domingas Da Guia, Jair and Zinzinho and maybe a few others on that list)

Here is a bit more about him. Credited with potentially being the creator of the bicycle kick and he was the leading scorer of the 1938 World Cup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B4nidas

I am pretty sure that Pele would have been a collector of his cards/stickers as this would be in the 1940's when he was a kid. Anyway, enjoy these artifacts:

[Anish]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!