Football Player of the Century
In 1999 France Football consulted former Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century.
30 out of the 34 former Ballon d'Or winners from 1956 to 1999 voted, with 17 of these giving the highest votes to Brazilian Pelé, who received the almost twice as many points as the second place getter Maradona.
| Rank | Name | Natioanily | Points* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil | 122 |
| 2 | Diego MARADONA | Argentina | 65 |
| 3 | Johan CRUYFF | Netherlands | 62 |
| 4 | Alfredo DI STEFANO | Argentina/Spain | 44 |
| 5 | Michel PLATINI | France | 40 |
| 6 | Franz BECKENBAUER | Germany | 35 |
| 7 | Ferenc PUSKAS | Hungary | 12 |
| 8 | Marco VAN BASTEN | Netherlands | 11 |
| 9 | ZICO | Brazil | 7 |
| 10 | Gerhard "Gerd" Müller | Germany | 5 |
| Lev YASHIN | Soviet Union | 5 | |
| 12 | Enzo FRANCESCOLI | Uruguay | 4 |
| Manoel Francisco dos Santos "GARRINCHA" | Brazil | 4 | |
| George BEST | Northern Ireland | 4 | |
| 15 | Rafael GORDILLO | Spain | 3 |
| 16 | Bobby CHARLTON | England | 2 |
| 17 | ROMÁRIO de Souza Faria | Brazil | 2 |
| 18 | Roberto BAGGIO | Italy | 1 |
| Oleg BLOKHIN | Soviet Union | 1 | |
| Just FONTAINE | France | 1 | |
| Raymond KOPA | France | 1 | |
| Fritz WALTER | Germany | 1 | |
| Dino ZOFF | Italy | 1 | |
| 24 | Roger MILLA | Cameroon | 0.5 |
*points calculation: Each of the 30 voters chose 5 players. 5 points were given for the 1st place, 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd, 2 points for 4th and 1 point for 5th.
Related Pages
- A similar list World Soccer 100 Players of the Century
- About the Greatest Soccer Player Ever
- More about soccer and some other soccer lists
- All time greatest index of sports
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