By ignorants.
Putting it in NFL's terms, Maradona won 1 World Cup. That's it. Okay, he won 1 scudetto and 1 Uefa Eurocup (Europe's 2nd class trophy).
Pelé won 2 Libertadores de América (South America's greatest championship), 2 Club World Championships, and 3 World Cups, the first at the age 17. He had more than 1000 goals, which only Romário was able to do after him. He is still the all time scorer with 1087 goals.
Look at his resumé:
Pelé - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He was elected player of the century by FIFA. The guy is knighted for crying out loud.
And that's only in accomplishments. As a player per se, Pelé was much better. He could play with both legs equally good, he was an excellent header, he was a very good defender. He even played goalie! While Maradona could only use his left leg.
EVERYONE that saw him says he was better than Maradona. Only Argentinians and people who didn't see him play say Maradona was better.
In reality, Maradona wasn't even better than Garrincha...
Personally, I couldn't care less for Pelé. He's a scumbag who only cares about himself, while Maradona, despite being an addicted and doing tons of **** in his life, always stayed loyal to his team and nation. But the fact still is Maradona never even came close to Pelé.