After recovering from the injury suffered in the 1962 World Cup, Pele caught up with the play-offs of the 1962 Copa Libertadores final. Facing the defending champion Penarol Pele, he showed off his prowess. He scored 2 goals and led the team to a 3-0 defeat, winning Santos' first Copa Libertadores championship.
Then Santos met the Champions League champion Benfica in the Intercontinental Cup. In the first round, Santos borrowed the Maracana Stadium to defeat Benfica with a score of 3-2. When they arrived in Lisbon a month later, they saw Benfica fans holding the "World Champion" flag and clearly not putting Santos on the map. In eyes. So in the second round at the Stadium of Light, Pele and his teammates started a massacre. In just 64 minutes, Santos led the opponent 5-0. Pele scored a hat-trick, twice with four players scoring goals, and once with three players assisting Coutinho for a goal. Pepe also scored. The icing on the cake... Although Benfica recovered 2 goals, this was undoubtedly the greatest day in the history of Santos. They took home the World Club Cup (Intercontinental Cup) championship for the first time, and the world was amazed by Pele's superb skills.
The following year as the defending champion Santos directly participated in the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores. They defeated the Botafogo team led by Garrincha 5-1 in two rounds, and faced the Argentine powerhouse Boca Juniors in the final. Santos won 3-2 in the first round. In the second round at the Candy Box Stadium, the Argentines were determined to stop Pele at all costs. They rushed Pele and took off Pele's pants. However, in this extremely rough game, Pele assisted first. Coutinho opened the scoring and then scored the winning goal in the 80th minute past a Boca Juniors defender. After the game, many famous players of Boca Juniors such as Sanfilippo and Latin were full of praise for Pele.
In the Club World Cup at the end of the year, Pele did not have the same glory as last year. Although he scored 2 goals in the first round, he was injured. Santos lost to AC Milan 2-4, but he deflected the old Maldini and scored. The goal was still very exciting, and Pele served as captain in this game. He was injured and had to miss the second round. Fortunately, his teammates fought hard and tenaciously defeated the opponent 4-2. In the make-up match, they relied on Dalmo's winning goal to win 1-0 and win the Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup for the second consecutive year. .
After 1965, the Brazilian Football Association argued with CONMEBOL over the renaming of the Copa Libertadores from the Copa America to the Copa Libertadores. Brazilian clubs were subsequently banned from participating in the Copa Libertadores. Although the ban was later lifted, at this time Brazilian football The team seemed to have lost interest in participating in the Copa Libertadores and refused to participate in subsequent competitions. Without Santos participating in the Copa Libertadores, he would naturally be happy to spend more time out "playing tricks". Pele was originally their cash cow, so they couldn't make more money while he was playing!
In 1966, Bailey married his first wife, Rosemary Zolbi, but in this year his business had problems and was almost on the verge of bankruptcy, which forced Bailey to sign a contract with the team. In the three-year contract, the third year is voluntary to play in order to ask the club's directors to lend him money to tide him over. This makes the club even more aggressive when he fulfills this contract. As for the official game? From 1966 to 1974, Santos only won one national championship (1968), which speaks volumes.
This period of time can also be called the essence of Pele's professional football activities at the club. At least every year, some strong European and South American teams play against Santos. The 1959 trip to Europe was just the beginning. Pele has a very good attitude towards fans from all over the world and responds to their requests for autographs and photos. In order to catch a glimpse of Pele, fans would even chase Santos' train for miles, while celebrities such as Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, the Pope and the Shah of Iran were also proud to meet Pele. When Pele and his wife were received by the Pope on their honeymoon, some reports said: The Pope was even more nervous than Pele!