NEW YORK: Pele was 34 and semi-retired when the New York Cosmos fended off interest from Juventus and Real Madrid to lure the world’s greatest player to the footballing backwater that was America in 1975.
In just over two years, he transformed “soccer” in the United States from a sport barely anyone cared about to one attracting sell-out crowds of 80,000.
He won a North American Soccer League championship, launching an era of dominance for the Cosmos, and opened the door for a host of other stars, including Johan Cruyff and George Best, to play stateside.
