Pelé hat-trick match ball from Cosmos v Fort Lauderdale Strikers match, 15th May 1977.

Pelé hat-trick match ball from the Cosmos v Fort Lauderdale Strikers match at Giants Stadium, 15th May 1977, widely regarded to have been Pele's defining personal performance during his 2 1/2 years at the NASL Club, THE BALL SIGNED BY PELE AND TEAM-MATES FRANZ BECKENBAUER & GIORGIO CHINAGLIA, a French manufactured Adidas Official NASL soccer ball bearing the facsimile signature of Commissioner Phil Woosnam, the pentagon panels with white outlined red stars on a blue background.

For aficionados who followed Pele's career in detail at Cosmos, the Brazilian's performance in the Strikers match lives long in the memory. He performed at an extraordinary high level of energy and sheer class and propelled his team-mates to their own high levels of performance simultaneously. In this match Pele scored tormented the opposition defence with an awesome display and scored all three goals in the Cosmos 3-0 victory before a full house at the Giants Stadium. The Fort Lauderdale goalkeeper beaten three times that day was England's Gordon Banks who at the 1970 World Cup had denied Pele with a wonder save from the Brazilian's header.

Provenance: The Charles Martinelli Collection. Former Equipment Manager of the New York Cosmos.
Graham Budd Auctions 7th November 2016, lot 918.

The following lots 779 to 879 relate to the career of football legend Pele.