Brazilian football legend Pele, the greatest soccer player of all time, will arrive in Havana on Sunday for his first ever visit to Cuba, state daily Granma reported Thursday.

Pele is traveling as part of U.S. team Cosmos (New York), which is set to play a friendly match against Cuba's national team.

Cosmos invested large sums of money starting in 1975 to sign on some of the world's most talented players, including Pele, Germany's Franz Beckenbauer and the Dutch Johan Neeskens. Pele retired from play in 1977, but serves as honorary president of the club.

Long before there was a Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, there was Pele, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento.

Also known as "The Black Pearl" or simply "The King," Pele scored five or more goals per game on six occasions, four goals per game on 30 occasions, and three goals per game on 92 occasions. He racked up more than 100 goals in a season on three occasions.

His agility, speed and incredible ball-handling skills led him to revolutionize soccer, creating an all-out attack strategy, today known as the "Brazilian style," that fans found more exciting than traditional defense-oriented games.

The Cosmos-Cuba match also marks the first time a professional football club plays in Cuba since 1978; the U.S. national team played in a World Cup qualifier in Havana in 2008.

The vice president of the Cuban Soccer Association, Antonio Garces, noted Cosmos' lineup features Spanish striker Raul Gonzalez, 37, who holds the record as the top goal scorer in the history of Real Madrid, and Brazilian midfielder Marco Senna, 38.

"It's a great opportunity, it's the first time I'm going to Cuba and it's very exciting," the daily cited Gonzalez as saying. "It's a historic game for Cosmos and for me."

The match coincides with a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, which has promoted exchange in other sports as well.

In late April, the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) held a four-day training camp in Havana, with retired NBA stars Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo.

The Baltimore Orioles baseball team, meanwhile, announced it plans to revisit the island 15 years after it played in Havana's Latin American Stadium. Endi

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