Where did Pelé grow up and live?

📍Bauru, Sao Paulo, Brazil

1940 – 1956

“I was born in Três Corações but grew up in Bauru in the interior of São Paulo state, where my father Dondinho played football for the local club and where I learned the game on the red dust streets with a ball made of rags stuffed into a sock. We had very little — my father's football career was cut short by injury, and I shined shoes to contribute to the family income. But Bauru gave me everything I needed: space, time, the freedom to play from morning until dark, and a father who understood the game and taught me to love it rather than merely to master it. I left Bauru at fifteen to join Santos, and I never really stopped moving after that — but the red streets of Bauru, the dust rising around the makeshift ball, the feeling of learning something that felt like breathing, that stayed with me everywhere I ever went.”

👍 LovedThe freedom of street football in Bauru — no coaches, no formations, just the game in its purest form. My father's guidance and his love of football which he passed to me entirely. The community of boys who played together from dawn to dusk.

👎 DislikedThe poverty that meant proper equipment was impossible and proper food was sometimes scarce. The sense of limitation — of knowing the world was large but being far from it.

Map showing where Pelé lived — Bauru, Sao Paulo, Brazil

🗺️ Approximate location today

Street view of Pelé's home at Bauru, Sao Paulo, Brazil

📍 Street view today

Sources: Pelé with Fish, R. My Life and the Beautiful Game (1977), Doubleday; Bellos, A. Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life (2002), Bloomsbury; Fish, R. Pelé: His Life and Times (2000), Mainstream Publishing