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. Diego Maradona and Pelé were joint winners of the award. Maradona won the award based on the Internet poll, while Pelé won the award based on votes from FIFA officials, journalists and coaches.

Background

Since 1991, FIFA have had awards for FIFA World Player of the Year and they decided to bring in the new millennium 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. 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.

FIFA internet vote

The results of FIFA's internet Poll were as follows:
PlayerNationalityPercentage
1Diego Maradona53.6%
2Pelé18.53%
3Eusébio6.21%
4Roberto Baggio5.42%
5Romário1.69%
6Marco van Basten1.57%
7Ronaldo1.55%
8Franz Beckenbauer1.50%
9Zinedine Zidane1.34%
10Rivaldo1.19%
11Zico1.15%
12Garrincha1.08%
13Johan Cruyff0.87%
14Alfredo Di Stéfano0.68%
15Michel Platini0.58%
16Bobby Charlton0.39%
17Ferenc Puskás0.37%
18Lothar Matthäus0.37%
19Lev Yashin0.36%
20George Best0.32%

FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote

This part of the award was decided by the FIFA Magazine readers vote and the FIFA Grand Jury.
PlayerNationalityPercentage
1PeléBrazil72.75%
2Alfredo Di StéfanoArgentina9.75%
3Diego MaradonaArgentina6.0%
4Franz BeckenbauerGermany2.5%
5Johan CruyffNetherlands2.0%
6George BestNorthern Ireland2.0%
7Michel PlatiniFrance1.0%
8GarrinchaBrazil1.0%
9ZicoBrazil1.0%
10Gerd MüllerGermany1.0%
11Roberto BaggioItaly1.0%

FIFA Centennial Award

FIFA Centennial Player and Football Personality.
WinnerNationality
Franz BeckenbauerGermany
PeléBrazil

IFFHS

gave out an award decided by votes which was conducted with the participation of journalists and former players.
PlayerNationalityVotes
1Pelé1705
2Johan Cruyff1303
3Franz Beckenbauer1228
4Alfredo Di Stéfano1215
5Diego Maradona1214
6Ferenc Puskás810
7Michel Platini722
8Garrincha624
9Eusébio544
10Bobby Charlton508

Best World Cup Players

A few years prior to the end of the century, in 1993, in a ceremony sponsored by the American Airlines in Las Vegas, FIFA voted the best players, goalkeepers and coaches in the World Cup history.

Players

Goalkeepers

Coaches