FIFA Player of the Century

This article is about FIFA Player of the Century. For FIFA Female Player of the Century, see FIFA Female 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][4]

Background

Since 1991, 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.[5] 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 (50%), and also a voting from the FIFA Magazine subscribers (50%) who voted Pelé the best player of the century with an overall 72.75% of the vote. Thus both were joint winners of the award.[6]

Results

FIFA Internet vote

The results of FIFA's internet Poll were as follows:[7] 27 players were voted.

Rank Player Nationality Percentage
1 Diego Maradona  Argentina 53.60%
2 Pelé  Brazil 18.53%
3 Eusébio  Portugal 6.21%
4 Roberto Baggio  Italy 5.42%
5 Romário  Brazil 1.69%
6 Marco van Basten  Netherlands 1.57%
7 Ronaldo  Brazil 1.55%
8 Franz Beckenbauer  Germany 1.50%
9 Zinedine Zidane  France 1.34%
10 Rivaldo  Brazil 1.19%
11 Zico  Brazil 1.15%
12 Garrincha  Brazil 1.08%
13 Johan Cruyff  Netherlands 0.87%
14 Alfredo Di Stéfano  Argentina
 Spain		 0.68%
15 Michel Platini  France 0.58%
16 Bobby Charlton  England 0.39%
17 Ferenc Puskás  Hungary 0.37%
18 Lothar Matthäus  Germany 0.37%
19 Lev Yashin  Soviet Union 0.36%
20 George Best  Northern Ireland 0.32%
21 Dino Zoff  Italy 0.24%
22 Didi  Brazil 0.22%
23 Stanley Matthews  England 0.18%
24 George Weah  Liberia 0.18%
25 Bobby Moore  England 0.17%
26 Just Fontaine  France 0.13%
27 Gerd Muller  Germany 0.11%

FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote

This part of the award was decided by the FIFA Magazine readers vote and the FIFA Grand Jury.[7] Both the FIFA Magazine and the Football Committee's results were multiplied by 50% for the overall percentages of the two separate procedures.

Pelé, was the overall winner (FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote).
Rank Player Nationality Combined
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%

FIFA Committee

The Football Committee (or Grand Jury) consisted of a group of experts who voted for the best player and the results were multiplied by 50%. Only Pele and Alfredo Di Stéfano received votes.

Rank Player Nationality Percentage
1 Pelé  Brazil 87.50%
2 Alfredo Di Stéfano  Argentina
 Spain 		12.50%

FIFA Magazine

The FIFA Magazine readers voted in a separate poll contributing 50% to the final result of the FIFA Magazine and Grand jury vote, with Pele as the winner.

Rank Player Nationality Percentage
1 Pelé  Brazil 58%
2 Diego Maradona  Argentina 12%
3 Alfredo Di Stéfano  Argentina
 Spain 		7.0%
4 Franz Beckenbauer  Germany 5.0%
5 Johan Cruyff  Netherlands 4.0%
George Best  Northern Ireland 4.0%
7 Roberto Baggio  Italy 2.0%
Garrincha  Brazil 2.0%
Zico  Brazil 2.0%
Michel Platini  France 2.0%
Gerd Müller  Germany 2.0%

See also

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. ^ Pele, Maradona split player of 20th century award (12/12/2000) - CBC
  5. ^ "Maradona's genius cannot eclipse English master". telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph. 12 December 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Pele, Maradona each win FIFA century awards after feud". CNN. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  7. ^ a b "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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