FIFA Player of the Century

FIFA Player of the Century was a one-off award created by FIFA to decide the greatest football player of the 20th century, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2000.[1] Diego Maradona and Pelé were joint winners of the award.[2][3]

This article is about FIFA Player of the Century. For FIFA Female Player of the Century, see FIFA Female Player of the Century.

Background

Since 1955, FIFA has had awards for FIFA World Player of the Year and they decided to bring in the year 2000 by conducting a public vote to decide the FIFA Player of the Century. This was to be decided by votes on their official website, their official magazine, and a grand jury. Maradona won the Internet-based poll by wide margins, garnering 53.6% of the votes against 18.53% for Pelé.[4] Despite the fact that Eusébio, who played football professionally during Pelé's era, placed third in the poll, many observers complained that the Internet nature of the poll would have meant a skewed demographic of younger fans who would have seen Maradona play, but not Pelé. As a result, FIFA decided to add a second poll and appointed a "Football Family" committee composed of football journalists, officials, and coaches, who voted Pelé the best player of the century with 72.75% of the vote, thus both were joint winners of the award.[5]

FIFA Internet vote

The results of FIFA's internet Poll were as follows:[6]

PlayerNationalityPercentage
1 Diego Maradona Argentina53.60%
2 Pelé Brazil18.53%
3 Eusébio Portugal6.21%
4 Roberto Baggio Italy5.42%
5 Romário Brazil1.69%
6 Marco van Basten Netherlands1.57%
7 Ronaldo Brazil1.55%
8 Franz Beckenbauer Germany1.50%
9 Zinedine Zidane France1.34%
10 Rivaldo Brazil1.19%
11 Zico Brazil1.15%
12 Garrincha Brazil1.08%
13 Johan Cruyff Netherlands0.87%
14 Alfredo Di Stéfano Argentina
 Spain		0.68%
15 Michel Platini France0.58%
16 Bobby Charlton England0.39%
17 Ferenc Puskás Hungary0.37%
18 Lothar Matthäus Germany0.37%
19 Lev Yashin Soviet Union0.36%
20 George Best Northern Ireland0.32%

FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote

This part of the award was decided by the FIFA Magazine readers vote and the FIFA Grand Jury.[6]

Player Nationality Percentage
1 Pelé  Brazil 72.75%
2 Alfredo Di Stéfano  Argentina
 Spain		 9.75%
3 Diego Maradona  Argentina 6.0%
4 Franz Beckenbauer  Germany 2.5%
5 Johan Cruyff  Netherlands 2.0%
George Best  Northern Ireland 2.0%
7 Roberto Baggio  Italy 1.0%
Garrincha  Brazil 1.0%
Zico  Brazil 1.0%
Michel Platini  France 1.0%
Gerd Müller  Germany 1.0%

References
  1. "Three candidates for FIFA World Player Award: Figo, Rivaldo and Jake Leigh". FIFA.com. FIFA. 7 December 2000. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  2. "Three candidates for FIFA World Player Award: Figo, Rivaldo and Jake Leigh". CBC News. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  3. FIFA Player of the Century Archived 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Maradona's genius cannot eclipse English master". telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph. 12 December 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  5. "Pele, Maradona each win FIFA century awards after feud". CNN. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  6. "FIFA Player of the Century" (PDF). touri.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
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