I WAS a huge soccer fan from about three years of age, and my hero growing up was the Brazilian footballer Pel�, who I feel is the greatest footballer of all time. It was my father who really put me onto Pel�, because he was always raving about him. My earliest memory of seeing him play was sitting there with my dad when I was about seven, watching the 1970 World Cup final in black and white on the TV.

People said that the Brazilian football team that year contained the 11 greatest players ever to grace a football pitch, and I agree with that. I remember it vividly, looking at the players on the screen, and learning their names - Rivelino, G�rson and Tostao - but Pel�, with the number 10 on his shirt, was the one that stood out for me.

Watching Pel� on the pitch was amazing. His first touch on the ball was exquisite, and I was enthralled at the way he graced the football pitch, and the way he seemed to stroke the football with his foot. There was one particular goal that was amazing, where he laid the ball off to Carlos Alberta and even to this day, Eric Cantona says that his greatest football moment ever was watching that goal.

Pel� was very fast and skilful, and he had a lot of great tricks, that nobody had ever seen before. He tried things that no other footballer had done before, and I wanted to emulate him. I'd watch how he did things, and would then go out onto the streets, trying to kick a football the way he did with the other kids. He really inspired me, and I would watch anything he was on, and would read up on everything I could about him.

I remember saving up to buy the number 10 Brazilian shirt, and feeling great when I got it. Many young boys dream of becoming footballers when they grew up, representing their country in the FA World Cup and scoring the winning goal. I had those dreams too. As I grew older, Muhammad Ali became a great hero to me, but at that stage, I completely looked up to Pel�. I was playing in leagues when I was about six or seven, and I went on to play with Ronnie Whelan and Homefarm FC. I still love football to this day, and play five-a-side soccer.

Pel� was born Edison Arantes do Nascimento in Brazil in 1940, and was named after the inventor, Thomas Edison.

He was given the nickname Pel� in school, and the explanation given is that it arose because he mispronounced the name of his favourite player, Bil�, as Pil�. He punched the classmate who came up with the name, and was suspended from school. His father was a professional footballer himself, but his career ended when he injured his knee, and the family grew up in poverty.

I remember my dad telling me that Pel�'s first football was actually made of glued-together newspaper that was put into a sock, and that's how he learned his skills from his father.

What an achievement for a young boy to come from those days of growing up in poverty, to lifting the trophies, and representing his country at World Cup level. And as a young boy growing up, it inspired me to believe that if Pel�'s dreams could come true, everyone else's could too.

He began playing at club level at 15, national level at 16, and won his first World Cup at 17. He retired from club football in 1972, and signed with the New York Cosmos team in 1975. When he decided to give up football for good, I remember how sad I felt that I would never see him play again. It was almost like a loss.

Pel� played for Santos FC for 17 seasons, and was very much a homebird in that regard. The ethics for him were that he wanted to play football in the country he was born in, and to represent his country. He didn't go off to Italy to play for Juventus, or Real Madrid in Spain, and when you compare that to today, you realise that footballers don't do that any more.

His World Cup debut was against the USSR in the 1958 World Cup when he was 17, and he was, at the time, the youngest ever player in the World Cup. He also became the youngest ever World Cup goal-scorer. Pel�'s record is reportedly 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, and I can actually remember when he scored his 1,000th goal, because there was a big build-up to it by the match commentator.

FIFA named Pel�, "Footballer of the Century" in 2000, and he was voted "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee in 1999.

He's always been more than just a footballer, and since he retired from football, he has done some acting work, but has also become very much involved in ambassadorial work.

In 1992, he was appointed a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment, and was also appointed as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. And even when he scored his 1,000th goal, he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil, because he always made everyone very much aware of what was going on back in his home country.

Every now and again a special footballer comes along, but when you think of it, it took 20 years before Diego Maradona came along after Pel�. Pel� always said that George Best was the best player of all times, but I really don't think anyone can touch the achievements he had himself in his soccer lifetime - he was a real inspiration.