Pelé Spouse: His Wives and Marriages

Pelé’s spouse at the time of his death was Marcia Aoki, a businesswoman he married in 2016. As widely reported, she was his third wife, following two earlier marriages. The Brazilian football legend died on December 29, 2022, at age 82.

Quick facts

The three marriages

His first marriage was to Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi in 1966, and it lasted until 1982. He then married Assíria Seixas Lemos in 1994, and they divorced in 2008. In 2016 he married Marcia Aoki in a ceremony in Santos, and she was with him in his final years. His private life produced headlines in Brazil over the years, but here we stick to the marriages themselves and leave out family details.

Why he became a legend

Pelé rose from a modest upbringing in Brazil to sign with Santos as a teenager. He won three World Cups with Brazil (1958, 1962 and 1970), the only player to do so. He scored in the 1958 final at age 17, a feat that made him a global name almost overnight. Across his career he scored more than 1,000 goals by his own club’s count, though counting methods are debated, since many were scored in friendlies and exhibition matches.

Santos and New York Cosmos

He spent nearly two decades at Santos, where he became the club’s all-time symbol, and then joined the New York Cosmos in 1975, helping bring attention to soccer in the United States. He retired in 1977 after a farewell match at Giants Stadium, playing a half for each of the two teams he’d served. For many American fans, that era was their first real exposure to the world’s most popular sport.

After football

He served as Brazil’s Extraordinary Minister for Sport in the 1990s and worked as an ambassador for football and for charitable causes. He was also a recording artist and appeared in films, including Escape to Victory (1981), alongside Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. In 1999 the International Olympic Committee named him Athlete of the Century, and FIFA honored him as one of its two Players of the Century in 2000.

The name and the nickname

“Pelé” was a nickname, and its exact origin has been told in different ways, including by the man himself. He went by it from childhood and eventually it eclipsed his given name, Edson. To Brazilians, he is also simply “O Rei,” the King. His fame was so great that the nickname became a brand in its own right, appearing on products, documentaries and commemorations across the world.

Why the marriage question comes up

Because his life was so public, details about his marriages often appear in Brazilian and international coverage, and readers searching for his spouse are usually looking for the name of the woman who was with him at the end. That’s Marcia Aoki, who has appeared with him at public events in recent years. The earlier marriages are matters of record, but the family stories that surround them are best left to biographers and to the people involved.

Remembered in Brazil

When he died, Brazil observed days of mourning, and fans gathered at the Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos to say goodbye. His funeral and tributes drew crowds, and football federations around the world paid their respects. For many Brazilians, he stands as a symbol of a golden era, when the national team’s yellow shirt became a global icon and the country’s style of play, fluid and joyful, became known as “o jogo bonito.”

Pelé’s career overlapped with the first great era of televised football, and that timing helped him become the sport’s first true global superstar. Clips of his goals still circulate today.

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