FIFA 100
On March 4, 2004, at a gala ceremony in London, to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the
Fdration Internationale de Football Association , the international governing body of
football revealed the FIFA 100. The list contains the world-renowned Brazilian striker Pel's choice of the "greatest living footballers". The figure 100 refers to the 100th anniversary of FIFA and not the number of players listed, which is actually 125. Apparently Pel found it too difficult to list just 100. The list contains 123 professional men and 2 women players .
Encyclopedia
On March 4, 2004, at a gala ceremony in London, to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the
Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the international governing body of
football revealed the
FIFA 100. The list contains the world-renowned Brazilian striker
Pelé's choice of the "greatest living footballers". The figure 100 refers to the 100th anniversary of FIFA and not the number of players listed, which is actually 125. Apparently Pelé found it too difficult to list just 100. The list contains 123 professional men and 2 women players . At the time the FIFA 100 was selected, 50 of the players were still active, with the remaining 75 retired from the game.
Some football observers have questioned the selection methodology of the list. David Mellor, former politician turned football pundit, wrote in his column in the
Evening Standard, that he felt the selections were politically motivated rather than made on purely footballing grounds. He suggested that the selections looked as if they came from the pen of the FIFA Executive Committee rather than Pelé. As evidence for this, Mellor noted the wide geographical spread of the selected players: a true selection would be more heavily biased to South America and Europe, he claimed. Other critics have claimed the list was too biased towards modern-day players.
Another questionable FIFA-rule here is that it should contain only "living" players: not limited to "active" players, and not expanded to the greatest players "ever" in these celebrated 100 years of FIFA. As example, one could reasonably expect
Bobby Moore,
Lev Yashin or
Garrincha to be included. One reason for this criterion was to allow publication of a tie-in coffee table book of specially-commissioned photographic
portraits of the honoured players.
- The most notable display of contempt for the controversial list came from one of Pelé's old team-mates, the former Brazil midfielder Gérson, who reacted to his omission from the FIFA 100 by tearing up a copy of the list on a Brazilian television programme. Marco van Basten and Uwe Seeler refused to take part in the project on a point of principle.
List
Following is the list of the "FIFA 100" greatest living footballers as nominated by Pele. The list prepared for 100th anniversary of
FIFA. List has total of 125 nominees:
Diego MaradonaAlfredo Di StefanoDaniel PassarellaGabriel BatistutaHernan CrespoJavier SaviolaJavier ZanettiJuan Sebastian Veron
Mario Kempes
Omar SivoriFranky van der Elst
Jean-Marie Pfaff
Jan Ceulemans
CafuCarlos Alberto
Djalma Santos
FalcaoNilton Santos
Junior
PeleRivaldoRivelinoRoberto Carlos
Romario
RonaldinhoRonaldoSócratesZicoHristo StoichkovRoger Milla
Elías FigueroaIvan Zamorano
Carlos Valderrama
Davor SukerJosef Masopust
Pavel NedvedBrian LaudrupMichael LaudrupPeter SchmeichelAlan ShearerBobby CharltonDavid BeckhamGary Lineker
Gordon Banks
Kevin KeeganMichael OwenDavid Trezeguet
Didier DeschampsEric CantonaJean-Pierre Papin
Just FontaineLilian ThuramMarcel Desailly
Marius Tresor
Michel PlatiniPatrick Vieira
Raymond Kopa
Robert PiresThierry Henry
Zinedine ZidaneFranz BeckenbauerGerd MuellerJurgen KlinsmannKarl-Heinz Rummenigge
Lothar MatthaeusMichael BallackOliver KahnPaul BreitnerSepp Maier
Uwe Seeler
Abedi PeleFerenc Puskas
Roy KeaneAlessandro Del PieroAlessandro NestaChristian Vieri
Dino Zoff
Francesco TottiFranco BaresiGiampiero Boniperti
Giacinto FacchettiGianluigi Buffon
Gianni Rivera
Giuseppe Bergomi
Paolo RossiPaolo MaldiniRoberto BaggioHidetoshi NakataGeorge WeahHugo SanchezClarence SeedorfDennis BergkampEdgar DavidsFrank RijkaardJohan NeeskensJohan CruyffMarco van BastenPatrick Kluivert
Rene van de Kerkhof
Rob RensenbrinkRuud GullitRuud van NistelrooyWilly van de Kerkhof
Jay-Jay Okocha
George BestRomerito
Teofilo Cubillas
Zbigniew BoniekEusebioLuis FigoRui CostaGheorghe HagiRinat Dasaev
Kenny DalglishEl Hadji Diouf
Hong Myung-Bo
Emilio ButraguenoLuis Enrique
Raul
Emre BelozogluRustu RecberAndriy ShevchenkoEnzo Francescoli
Michelle Akers
Mia HammSee also
- FIFA World Rankings
- World soccer players of the 20th century
- FIFA Women's World Rankings
External link
