With the 20th century coming to an end, all kind of experts are publishing their selection of best football players of all time or of this century (which, after all, is essentially the same).
The start was made by the IFFHS in their continental "player and keeper of the century" elections. (In fact, there is at least one earlier selection, a German booklet called "Die 100 des Jahrhunderts - Fußballer", published in 1996 (!) and containing all players with at least 100 international matches, all players ever topscorer at a World Cup, all players ever chosen as European footballer of the year, a host of fairly insignificant German players, and all in all rather biased towards European and against South American players.)
Below some other selections as published in football magazines are listed.
An alphabetical list of players. Readers are to choose a top-10 which will then lead to a selection to be published in the final World Soccer issue of 1999. Players may also be chosen outside the 100 chosen by the magazine; for this purpose World Soccer also published a second list of 100 players which they apparently consider 101-200; choices outside those 200 are accepted as well. Names are listed as printed in the magazine.
ADEMIR Marques de Menezes Jose Leandro ANDRADE Roberto BAGGIO Gordon BANKS Franceschino 'Franco' BARESI Franz BECKENBAUER George BEST Franz 'Bimbo' BINDER Danny BLANCHFLOWER Oleg BLOKHIN Jozsef BOZSIK Antonio CARBAJAL John CHARLES Bobby CHARLTON Hector CHUMPITAZ Mario Esteves COLUNA Gianpiero COMBI Johan CRUYFF Teofilo CUBILLAS Zoltan CZIBOR Kenny DALGLISH William 'Dixie' DEAN Alfredo DI STEFANO DIDI (Waldyr Pereira) DOMINGOS Antonio DA GUIA Duncan EDWARDS Arsenio ERICO EUSEBIO da Silva Ferreira Giacinto FACCHETTI Bernabe FERREYRA Tom FINNEY Just FONTAINE Enzo FRANCESCOLI Arthur FRIEDENREICH GARRINCHA (Manoel Francisco dos Santos) Francisco GENTO GERSON de Oliveira Nunes GILMAR dos Santos Neves Gyula GROSICS Ruud GULLIT Nandor HIDEGKUTI JAIRZINHO (Jair Ventura Filho) Alex JAMES Sandor KOCSIS Kalman KONRAD Raymond KOPA Ladislav KUBALA Angel Amadeo LABRUNA Denis LAW Tommy LAWTON LEONIDAS da Silva Nils LIEDHOLM Paolo MALDINI Diego MARADONA Silvio MARZOLINI Josef MASOPUST Lothar MATTHAUS Stanley MATTHEWS Alessandro 'Sandro' MAZZOLA Valentino MAZZOLA Giuseppe MEAZZA Roger MILLA Luisito MONTI Bobby MOORE Juan Manuel MORENO Gerd MULLER Jose NASAZZI Gunnar NORDAHL Ernst OCWIRK Wolfgang OVERATH Daniel PASSARELLA Adolfo PEDERNERA PELE (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) Silvio PIOLA PIRRI (Jose Martinez Sanchez) Frantisek PLANICKA Michel PLATINI Ferenc PUSKAS Roberto RIVELINO Gianni RIVERA Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE Hugo SANCHEZ Loenel SANCHEZ Jose Emilio SANTAMARIA Djalma SANTOS Nilton dos SANTOS Gyorgy SAROSI Juan Alberto SCHIAFFINO Uwe SEELER Matthias SINDELAR Omar Enrique SIVORI Marco VAN BASTEN Paul VAN HIMST Obdulio VARELA Fritz WALTER Lev YASHIN Ricardo ZAMORA ZICO (Artur Antunes Coimbra) Zinedine ZIDANE Dino ZOFF
The French weekly magazine France-Football consulted their former "Ballon D'Or" winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. Among the 34 former "Ballon D'Or" winners (from 1956 to 1999) only 30 of the voted: Matthews, Sivori and Best refused to vote, and Yashin is dead.
Each of the 30 voters choose 5 players: 5 points for the 1st place, 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd, 2 points for 4th and 1 point for 5th. But Di Stefano only choose a 1st place, Platini a 1st and 2nd place, and Weah 2 players for 5th place (giving ½ point to each one). After each player points, between brackets is the number of votes for every place.
1. Edson Arantes do Nascimento "PELÉ" (Brazil) 122 pts (17 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 1)
2. Diego MARADONA (Argentina) 65 ( 3 - 6 - 5 - 5 - 1)
3. Johan CRUYFF (Netherlands) 62 ( 1 - 4 - 7 - 9 - 2)
4. Alfredo DI STEFANO (Argentina/Spain) 44 ( 4 - 3 - 3 - 1 - 1)
5. Michel PLATINI (France) 40 ( 1 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 6)
6. Franz BECKENBAUER (Germany) 35 ( 2 - 1 - 3 - 3 - 6)
7. Ferenc PUSKAS (Hungary) 12 ( 0 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 0)
8. Marco VAN BASTEN (Netherlands) 11 ( 0 - 0 - 3 - 1 - 0)
9. Artur Antunes Coimbra "ZICO" (Brazil) 7 ( 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0)
10. Gerd MÜLLER (Germany) 5 ( 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0)
Lev YASHIN (Soviet Union) 5 ( 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 1)
12. Enzo FRANCESCOLI (Uruguay) 4 ( 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0)
Manoel Francisco dos Santos "GARRINCHA" (Brazil) 4 ( 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 1)
George BEST (Northern Ireland) 4 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 - 0)
15. Rafael GORDILLO (Spain) 3 ( 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0)
16. Bobby CHARLTON (England) 2.5 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 3)
17. ROMÁRIO de Souza Faria (Brazil) 2 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0)
18. Roberto BAGGIO (Italy) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
Oleg BLOKHIN (Soviet Union) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
Just FONTAINE (France) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
Raymond KOPA (France) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
Fritz WALTER (Germany) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
Dino ZOFF (Italy) 1 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
24. Roger MILLA (Cameroon) 0.5 ( 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1)
The Guerin' Sportivo (Italy) have given their eminence grise space to publish his personal top-50 of the 20th century. One player is highlighted every week, and by the end of the year 1999 the top-50 will be complete. So far the following players have featured. Names are listed as printed in the magazine; so are the titles of the stories.
1.Pelé 2.Diego Armando Maradona "Splendori e cadute del Pibe de Oro" 3.Alfredo Di Stefano "La freccia bionda" 4.Johan Cruijff "Il campione della nuova frontiera" 5.Giuseppe Meazza "Il Balilla, fra gol e magie" 6.Ferenc Puskas "Il colonnello Bum Bum" 7.Valentino Mazzola "L'uomo simbolo del Grande Torino" 8.Juan Alberto Schiaffino "Il Pepe del Diavolo" 9.Michel Platini "Regista e solista, Michel le Roi" 10.Franz Beckenbauer "Tutti ai piedi di Kaiser Franz" 11.Marco Van Basten "Il bomber degli Anni '90" 12.Eusebio "Il graffio della pantera nera" 13.Garrincha "Il passerotto con le ali spezzate" 14.Gianni Rivera "L'abatino più forte del mondo" 15.Zico "Contro il fantasma di Pelé" 16.Omar Sivori "Omar, genio ribelle" 17.Ricardo Zamora "``El Divino'' fra storia e leggenda" 18.Silvio Piola "Il bomber senza scudetto" 19.Ronaldo "Fenomeno o meteora?" 20.Dino Zoff "Quel monumento chiamato Dino" 21.Bobby Charlton "Il campione che visse due volte" 22.José Altafini "Il coniglio mannaro del gol" 23.Gunnar Nordahl "Il pompiere del gol" 24.Gigi Riva "L'implacabile Rombo di tuono" 25.Paolo Rossi "Pablito, il reflesso che uccide" 26.Leonidas "La magia del diamante nero" 27.Roberto Baggio "Fragile e inditruttibile" 28.Lev Jascin "La leggenda del ragno nero" 29.Didì "Inventò la ``foglia secca''" 30.Paolo Maldini "Un campione predestinato" 31.Stanley Matthews "La leggenda del baronetta" 32.Mumo Orsi "Violinista di tango e di gol" 33.Lothar Matthäus "Provaci ancora, Lothar" 34.Gaetano Scirea "Campione in punta di piedi" 35.Gerd Müller "Il cacciatore di gol" 36.Matias Sindelar "La tragedia di Cartavelina" 37.Laszlo Kubala "Un geniale zingaro del gol" 38.Franco Baresi "Forse l'ultimo bandiera" 39.P. Roberto Falcão "L'ultimo re di Roma" 40.Karl H. Rummenigge "Un bomber forte e gentile" 41.Giampiero Boniperti "Un film tutto in bianco e nero" 42.Gabriel O. Batistuta "Con il gol sempre in canne" 43.Nils Liedholm "La leggenda dell'astuto barone" 44.John Charles "Il gigante (troppo) buono" 45.Nilton Santos "Un terzino chiamato enciclopedia" 46.Luis Suarez "L'architecto del mago" 47.Roberto Rivelino "Un sinistro coi baffi" 48.Daniel Passarella "Classe e grinta del Caudillo" 49.Nandor Hidegkuti "L'uomo che reinventò il centravanti" 50.Kurt Hamrin "L'uccellino che incantò l'Avvocato"
In November 1999, Placar (Brazil) published a list of the best 100 players of all time, ranked from 1 to 100. The list as published follows.
1.Édson Arantes do Nascimento - PELÉ (Brazil) 2.Diego Armando MARADONA (Argentina) 3.Johann CRUYFF (Netherlands) 4.Manoel Francisco dos Santos - GARRINCHA (Brazil) 5.Franz BECKENBAUER (Germany) 6.Alfredo DI STEFANO (Argentina) 7.Ferenc PUSKAS (Hungary) 8.Michel PLATINI (France) 9.EUSÉBIO Ferreira da Silva (Portugal) 10.ROMÁRIO de Souza Farias (Brazil) 11.Lev YASHIN (Russia) 12.Roberto RIVELLINO (Brazil) 13.Valdir Pereira - DIDI (Brazil) 14.Just FONTAINE (France) 15.Daniel Alberto PASSARELLA (Argentina) 16.Arthur Antunes Coimbra - ZICO (Brazil) 17.Franchescino BARESI (Italy) 18.Robert "BOBBY" CHARLTON (England) 19.Elias Ricardo FIGUEROA Brander (Chile) 20.Lothar MATTHÄUS (Germany) 21.Gordon BANKS (England) 22.NÍLTON SANTOS (Brazil) 23.Josef Dieter MAIER (Germany) 24.Sandor KOCSIS (Hungary) 25.Angel Amadeo LABRUNA (Argentina) 26.Marco VAN BASTEN (Netherlands) 27.GEORGE BEST (Northern Ireland) 28.LEÔNIDAS DA SILVA (Brazil) 29.Hristo STOICHKOV (Bulgaria) 30.Francisco GENTO (Spain) 31.Ruud Dil GULLIT (Netherlands) 32.FRITZ WALTER (Germany) 33.Luigi RIVA (Italy) 34.Gerhardt "GERD" MÜLLER (Germany) 35.Arthur FRIEDENREICH (Brazil) 36.Paulo Roberto FALCÃO (Brazil) 37.Robert "BOBBY" Frederick MOORE (England) 38.GÉRSON de Oliveira Nunes (Brazil) 39.Paul BREITNER (Germany) 40.DOMINGOS Antônio DA GUIA (Brazil) 41.Dino ZOFF (Italy) 42.Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Germany) 43.Laszlo KUBALA (Hungary) 44.Uwe SEELER (Germany) 45.VALENTINO MAZZOLA (Italy) 46.CARLOS ALBERTO TORRES (Brazil) 47.OBDULIO Jacinto VARELA (Uruguay) 48.Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade - TOSTÃO (Brazil) 49.STANLEY MATTHEWS (England) 50.Raymond Kopaszewski "KOPA" (França) 51.DJALMA SANTOS (Brazil) 52.George WEAH (Liberia) 53.Jürgen KLINSMANN (Germany) 54.PAOLO MALDINI (Italy) 55.HUGO SÁNCHEZ Márquez (Mexico) 56.Amadeo Raúl CARRIZO (Argentina) 57.Albert-Roger MILLA (Cameroun) 58.Zoltan CZIBOR (Hungary) 59.Leovegildo Lins Gama JÚNIOR (Brazil) 60.MICHAEL LAUDRUP (Denmark) 61.Josef MASOPUST (Czechoslovakia) 62.Antônio de Oliveira Filho - CARECA (Brazil) 63.Juan Alberto SCHIAFFINO (Uruguay) 64.ADEMIR DA GUIA (Brazil) 65.PAOLO ROSSI (Italy) 66.Jair "JAIRZINHO" Ventura Filho (Brazil) 67.Mário Esteves COLUNA (Portugal) 68.ADEMIR Marques DE MENEZES (Brazil) 69.Enzo FRANCESCOLI Uriarte (Uruguay) 70.Teófilo CUBILLAS (Peru) 71.Gaetano SCIREA (Italy) 72.Alain GIRESSE (France) 73.Júlio "JULINHO" BOTELHO (Brazil) 74.Luis "LUISITO" SUÁREZ Miramontes (Spain) 75.Giacinto FACCHETTI (Italy) 76.PEDRO Virgilio ROCHA Franchetti (Uruguay) 77.SÓCRATES Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (Brazil) 78.Guillermo STÁBILE (Argentina) 79.Thomaz Soares da SIlva - ZIZINHO (Brazil) 80.Gheorghe HAGI (Romania) 81.Antônio "TONINHO" Carlos CEREZO (Brazil) 82.Ricardo ZAMORA Martínez (Spain) 83.RONALDO Luís Nazário de Lima (Brazil) 84.Antonio CARBAJAL (Mexico) 85.Silvio PIOLA (Italy) 86.Giuseppe MEAZZA (Italy) 87.Carlos Alberto GAMARRA Pavón (Paraguay) 88.Gabriel Omar BATISTUTA (Argentina) 89.Paul John GASCOIGNE (England) 90.Frantisek PLANICKA (Czechoslovakia) 91.ROBERTO BAGGIO (Italy) 92.Zinedine ZIDANE (France) 93.Johan NEESKENS (Netherlands) 94.Julio César Romero "ROMERITO" Insfrán (Paraguay) 95.Davor SUKER (Croatia) 96.José Luís Félix CHILAVERT (Paraguay) 97.Jean Amadou TIGANA (France) 98.Mario Alberto KEMPES (Argentina) 99.Zbigniew BONIEK (Poland) 100.Franklin Edmundo RIJKAARD (Netherlands)
In December 1996, Planète Foot (France) published a list of the best 50 players of all time, on the occasion of its 50th edition. The list, in alphabetical order, follows below.
Gordon BANKS (England) Franceschino "Franco" BARESI (Italy) Franz BECKENBAUER (Germany) Oleg BLOKHIN (USSR) Robert "BOBBY" CHARLTON (England) Robert "BOBBY" MOORE (England) Zbigniew BONIEK (Poland) Paul BREITNER (Germany) Johann CRUYFF (Netherlands) Alfredo DI STEFANO (Argentina) EUSÉBIO Ferreira da Silva (Portugal) Just FONTAINE (France) Enzo FRANCESCOLI (Uruguay) Manoel Francisco dos Santos "GARRINCHA" (Brazil) Francisco GENTO (Spain) GEORGE BEST (Northern Ireland) GERD MÜLLER (Germany) GIANNI RIVERA (Italy) Ruud GULLIT (Netherlands) Jair Ventura Filho"JAIRZINHO" (Brazil) Mario Alberto KEMPES (Argentina) Kevin KEEGAN (England) Sandor KOCSIS (Hungary) Raymond KOPA (France) Denis LAW (Scotland) Diego Armando MARADONA (Argentina) Joseph MASOPUST (Czechoslovakia) Lothar MATTHÄUS (Germany) Johan NEESKENS (Netherlands) PAOLO MALDINI (Italy) PAOLO ROSSI (Italy) Édson Arantes do Nascimento "PELÉ" (Brazil) Michel PLATINI (France) Ferenc PUSKAS (Hungary) Pieter Robert RENSENBRINK (Netherlands) Roberto RIVELINO (Brazil) ROBERTO BAGGIO (Italy) ROMÁRIO de Souza Farias (Brazil) Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Germany) Alan SIMONSEN (Denmark) Omar Enrique SÍVORI (Argentina) Josip SKOBLAR (Yugoslavia) STANLEY MATTHEWS (England) Hristo STOICHKOV (Bulgaria) Marco VAN BASTEN (Netherlands) Paul VAN HIMST (Belgium) George WEAH (Liberia) Lev YASHIN (USSR) Artur A. Coimbra "ZICO" (Brazil) Dino ZOFF (Italy)
Voetbal International (Netherlands) let Raf Willems present an all-time great every week in an avalanche of alliterations (as demonstrated by the subtitles). His selections appear somewhat biased towards Belgian and Dutch players, as should perhaps be expected. The gallery is presented in alphabetical order and does not pretend to be exhaustive (or so at least one probably should construe the fact that Zubizarreta (rather than Zamora) is the only Spanish 'keeper appearing). Names are listed as printed in the magazine.
Gordon Banks "De denkende doelman" Franco Baresi "Monument van Milan" Marco van Basten "Meest mishandelde midvoor" Franz Beckenbauer "Kaiser tussen kunst en kitsch" George Best "Tussen Busby en Beatles" Jan van Beveren "De kunst van het keepen" Oleg Blokhin "Briljant in bescheidenheid" Eric Cantona "Tussen Platini, punk en poëzie" Carlos Alberto "Aristocraat van de achterhoede" Jan Ceulemans "Kapitein en krachtmens" Bobby Charlton "De man van Manchester" Rik Coppens "Diamant en dondersteen" Johan Cruijff "Dichter en denker" Kenny Dalglish "King of the Kop" Eusebio "Lust en liefde in Lissabon" Garrincha "Goddelijke gek" Eric Gerets "Tegenstrijdige temperamenten" Ruud Gullit "Dutch dreadlocks" Wim van Hanegem "De Kromme en de kameraden van de Kuip" Ernst Happel "Weense Weltmeister" Jairzinho "Futebol uit de favela" Jimmy Johnstone "Vlo op de vleugel" Mario Kempes "Goleador van de generaals" Grzegorz Lato "Voetballen in vrijheid" Michael Laudrup "Deense dribbelkoning" Denis Law "Schutter en schelm" Diego Maradona "Tussen poëzie en perversie" Stanley Matthews "De droom van de dribbelaar" Sandro Mazzola "Mysterieuze meester van Milaan" Ladislau Mazurkiewicz "Vreemdeling op het voetbalveld" Bobby Moore "Wijsheid en welvaart van West Ham" Gerd Müller "Bomber van Bayern" Johan Neeskens "Snijdende slidings" Günter Netzer "Muze van Mönchengladbach" Antonin Panenka "Praagse penalty's" Daniel Passarella "Krijger en keizer" Pelé "Koninklijke kunst" Jean-Marie Pfaff "Clowneske klassekeeper" Michel Platini "Schepper van schoonheid" Ferenc Puskas "Magische Magyaar" Rivelino "Legendarische linkervoet" Frank Rijkaard "Bedaard boegbeeld" Uwe Seeler "Volksheld in Volkspark" Socrates "Dokter tegen dictatuur" Di Stefano "Man van de macht" Tostão "Brein van Brazilië" Lev Yashin "Mythe van Moskou" Zico "Fluweel van Flamengo" Dino Zoff "Zelfverzekerde zwijger" Andoni Zubizarreta "Bask in Barcelona"
Voetbal International (Netherlands) are holding an election (among the readers) to select a "Century XI", in 4-3-3 formation. For each position ten names are selected by the magazine as the all-time best, ten more are listed to give the readers additional choice.
Jasjin
Carlos Alberto Beckenbauer Rijkaard Maldini
Di Stefano Cruijff Maradona
Garrincha Pelé Gento
The alternatives were (names as listed in magazine):
1 Jasjin
2-10 Zoff, Banks, Zamora, Beara, Gilmar, Grosics, Schroif, Carbajal, Maier
11-20 Mazurkiewicz, Schumacher, Schmeichel, Van der Sar, Van Beveren, Dassajev,
Iribar, Combi, Jennings, Shilton
1 Carlos Alberto
2-10 Battiston, Burgnich, Geretz, Kaltz, Leandro, Neal, D. Santos, Suurbier,
Vogts
11-20 Armfield, Van Binst, Dobias, Djorkaeff, Gentile, Janes, João Pinto,
Josimar, McGrain, Szymanowksi
1 Beckenbauer
2-10 Baresi, Happel, Koeman, Krol, Moore, Olsen, Passarella, Scirea, Wright
11-20 Hughes, Humberto Coelho, Israel, Meeuws, Nordqvist, Pirri, Rosato,
Sisternev, Tresor, Zmuda
1 Rijkaard
2-10 Galvan, J. Charlton, K.H. Förster, Hanse, Kohler, Nielsen, Ondrus,
Santamaria, Schwarzenbeck
11-20 Ferri, Goicoechea, Hulshoff, Lorant, Luisinho, Miqueli, O'Leary, Pezzey,
Picchi, Riggeri
1 Maldini
2-10 F. de Boer, Branco, Demianenko, Facchetti, Junior, Nilton Santos,
Schnellinger, Tarantini, Wilson
11-20 Bossis, Breitner, Cabrini, Camacho, Hapgood, Jusufi, Lantos, Marche,
De Vecchi, Hilario
1 Di Stefano
2-10 Ardiles, Boszik, Didi, Di Stefano, Falcão, Hanappi, Jansen,
Matthäus, Neeskens, Robson
11-20 Andrade, Ball, Bremner, Clodoaldo, Edwards, Giresse, Michel, Van Moer,
Souness, Tardelli
1 Cruijff
2-10 Charlton, Deyna, Kopa, Kubala, Platini, Rivera, Schiaffino, Sivori, Zico
11-20 Antognoni, Boniek, Coluna, Hoddle, Liedholm, Mazzola, Panenka, Schuster,
Socrates, Zizinho
1 Maradona
2-10 Gerson, Hagi, Van Hanegem, Masopust, Netzer, Puskas, Rivelino, Suarez,
Walter
11-20 Bardy, Coeck, Corso, Gordillo, Lerby, A. Mühren, Netto, Nygaard,
Overath, Sigurvinsson
1 Garrincha
2-10 Boniperti, Fazekas, Gren, Gullit, Jairzinho, Keegan, Lato, Matthews,
Rummenigge
11-20 Amancio, Bene, Bonev, Causio, Dalglish, Haller, Hamrin, Littbarski,
Rep, Simonsen
1 Gento
2-10 Best, Blochin, Czibor, Dzajic, Finney, Keizer, Lubanski, Moulijn, Riva
11-20 Bastin, Bettega, Ceulemans, Cubillas, M. Laudrup, Rensenbrink, Six,
Skoglund, Stoitchkov, Zagalo
1 Pelé
2-10 Altafini, Van Basten, Eusebio, Greaves, Kocsis, Gerd Müller, Nordahl,
Romario, Seeler
11-20 Fontaine, Hidegkuti, Van Himst, Kempes, Krankl, Lawton, Rossi, Rush,
Hugo Sánchez, Tostão
Sources: [fra], [gue], [pla], [vi], [ws].
Thanks to Marcelo Leme de Arruda (mlarruda@ime.usp.br) for Placar's and Planète Foot's lists; thanks to José Luis Pierrend (josepie@hotmail.com) for the France Football list.
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.stokkermans@risc.uni-linz.ac.at)
Last updated: 5 Feb 2001
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 1999/2001
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
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