Why did European football (soccer) leagues became famous worldwide but South American leagues didn't in spite of having talent in abundance?

Lot more money in Europe than in South America.

Geography. When international football took off between the World Wars, you had all of Europe on one side of the Atlantic, and you had Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay on the other side. South American football became geographically isolate, and you also had many small European countries with much easier travel than the much bigger SA countries. After World War II, and especially after the 1970 World Cup, people realized how much talent was in South America, but the sport's vastly superior infrastructure meant that South American leagues could never compete with Europe. The more money that poured into football, the bigger Europe's advantages became.

I think it is primarily due to economics, as has already been stated. South America does have an abundance of talent but the top end of that talent invariably goes to Europe in search of prestige and bigger paydays. Look no further than Messi, Neymar, DiMaria, James Rodriguez, Alexis Sanchez... Europe has been richer than its former colonies for the most part and that has allowed them, not only to pay more, but also to market and export their product worldwide to greater effect. The result? Bigger clubs who can pay more, a cycle of wealth and prestige that will have SA struggling and failing to keep its top talent home for the foreseeable future.