Pele finally getting his hands on the Ballon d'Or in 2014 was so emotional

Pele finally got his hands on the Ballon d'Or trophy in 2013 and you could see how much it meant to him.

The late Brazilian legend, who sadly passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday following a battle with colon cancer, is one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

He won three World Cups and scored a whole lot of goals for Brazil and Santos, inventing a host of the skills we see in football today.

But while he was named FIFA's player of the century, Pele never won the Ballon d'Or as a player. When he was strutting his stuff, 'The King' was never eligible for the coveted award because he did not play in Europe and he was not from the continent.

He spent the majority of his career at Santos, before enjoying a stint with New York Cosmos in the United States. Real Madrid and Manchester United were both interested in Pele but failed to convince him to make the move.

That meant despite being the best player of his era, Pele did not have a Ballon d'Or to show for it because when they changed the rules, he had long retired.

Image: Alamy

But at the ceremony for the 2013 prize, Pele's achievements were commemorated through an honorary Ballon d'Or that he received on stage.

As the volume of applause increased, Pele burst into tears and had to wipe his eyes before footage of his career was played on the screen.

After composing himself, he said: "I have so many so trophies and so many prizes but I was jealous because all those guys got the Ballon d'Or. At the time I didn't get because I didn't play in Europe and we didn't have this prize in South America.

"But now I thank God I complete my trophies at home. Thank you very much."

Pele then presented Cristiano Ronaldo with the 2013 award later on that night. A few years on and France Football did an "international re-evaluation" and calculated that Pele would have actually won seven Ballon d'Ors - the same as Lionel Messi.

Tributes from the football community have flooded in for Pele, while Brazil have announced there will be three days of mourning their hero.