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The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer
Pele's list of the greatest
on BBC Sport, 4 March 2004 *Players active at the time of announcement are marked by (*). , Gianluigi Buffon is the only still active player on the list.
The FIFA 100
{{Pelé Lists of association football players 100 Pelé Association football player non-biographical articles
The FIFA 100 is a list of Brazilian footballer Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA ...
's choice of the "greatest living footballers". Unveiled on 4 March 2004 at a gala ceremony in London, England, the FIFA 100 marked part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
.
The figure 100 refers to the 100th anniversary of FIFA and not the number of players listed, which is actually 125; Pelé had been asked to select 50 active players and 50 retired players, for a total of 100 players, but found it too difficult to limit the number of former players to just 50. The list contains 123 men and two women. At the time the FIFA 100 was selected, 50 of the players were still active, with the remaining 75 retired from the game.
Criticism
Some football observers have questioned the selection methodology of the list. David Mellor, politician turned football pundit, wrote in his column in the ''Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' 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 Sepp Blatter
Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result o ...
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 argued. Such assertions were also forwarded by BBC columnist Tim Vickery.
One of Pelé's old teammates, the former Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
midfielder Gérson
Gérson de Oliveira Nunes, generally known as Gérson (; born 11 January 1941 in Niterói), nicknamed ''Canhotinha de ouro'' (literally: Golden left foot), is a Brazilian former association footballer who played as a midfielder. He won numerous ...
, reacted to his omission from the FIFA 100 by tearing up a copy of the list on a Brazilian television programme. Marco van Basten
Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
and Uwe Seeler
Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of ...
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 Pelé in March 2004.on BBC Sport, 4 March 2004 *Players active at the time of announcement are marked by (*). , Gianluigi Buffon is the only still active player on the list.
See also
* ''World Soccers Greatest Players of the 20th Century *World Team of the 20th Century
The World Team of the 20th Century was chosen in 1998 to comprise the best association football players of the 20th century CE. The team comprises an eleven-member side, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forward ...
References
External links
The FIFA 100
{{Pelé Lists of association football players 100 Pelé Association football player non-biographical articles