How many goals did Pelé score for Brazil?
There is a certain amount of discrepancy about how many goals Pelé scored throughout his professional career (FIFA make it 1,281 goals in 1,363 games; other sources claim 1,282 or 1284 goals), but with the national team, there is no disagreement.
There were the almost-goals – memorable attempts that didn’t end up in the back of the net – like when he narrowly missed scoring from the halfway line or beating Uruguay goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz with the most outrageous dummy ever.
From his debut in July 1957 until his final game, against Yugoslavia on 18 July 1971, Pelé scored 77 goals in 92 appearances for Brazil. More than half of those goals – 51 in total, were scored in friendlies or minor South American tournaments. The rest, in FIFA-recognised competitions.
Pelé scored 12 goals in 14 appearances for Brazil in four different editions of the World Cup finals – 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970. The Seleção never lost a match with Pelé and Garrincha together on the pitch. His last goal for Brazil, a relatively straightforward tap-in, was in an international friendly against Austria in São Paulo in July 1971, his penultimate appearance for the national team.