Pelé's Choice of 125 Living Players

As part of its Centennial commemorations (1904-2004), FIFA asked Pelé to list the 100 best players (still alive) of all-time, comprised of 50 players still in activity and 50 players from the past.

Understandably (given that misproportion), Pelé decided to add more players from the past and came up with 125 players in the end, 50 active and 75 retired (but alive) ones.

Argentina

Gabriel Batistuta
Hernan Crespo
Mario Kempes
Diego Maradona
Daniel Passarella
Javier Saviola
Omar Sivori
Alfredo Di Stefano
Juan Sebastian Veron
Javier Zanetti

Belgium

Jan Ceulemans
Franky van der Elst
Jean-Marie Pfaff

Brazil

Carlos Alberto
Cafu
Falcão
Junior
Pelé
Rivaldo
Rivelino
Roberto Carlos
Romário
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo
Djalma Santos
Nilton Santos
Sócrates
Zico

Bulgaria

Hristo Stoitchkov

Cameroon

Roger Milla

Chile

Elias Figueroa
Ivan Zamorano

Colombia

Carlos Valderrama

Croatia

Davor Suker

Czech Republic (and former Czechoslovakia)

Josef Masopust
Pavel Nedved

Denmark

Brian Laudrup
Michael Laudrup
Peter Schmeichel

England

Gordon Banks
David Beckham
Bobby Charlton
Kevin Keegan
Gary Lineker
Michael Owen
Alan Shearer

France

Eric Cantona
Marcel Desailly
Didier Deschamps
Just Fontaine
Thierry Henry
Raymond Kopa
Jean-Pierre Papin
Robert Pires
Michel Platini
Lilian Thuram
Marius Tresor
David Trezeguet
Patrick Vieira
Zinedine Zidane

Germany (and former Federal Republic of Germany)

Michael Ballack
Franz Beckenbauer
Paul Breitner
Oliver Kahn
Juergen Klinsmann
Sepp Maier
Lothar Matthaeus
Gerd Muller
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Uwe Seeler

Ghana

Abedi Pele

Hungary

Ferenc Puskas

Ireland

Roy Keane

Italy

Roberto Baggio
Franco Baresi
Giuseppe Bergomi
Giampiero Boniperti
Gianluigi Buffon
Giacinto Facchetti
Paolo Maldini
Alessandro Nesta
Alessandro Del Piero
Gianni Rivera
Paolo Rossi
Francesco Totti
Christian Vieri
Dino Zoff

Japan

Hidetoshi Nakata

Korea Republic

Hong Myung-Bo

Liberia

George Weah

Mexico

Hugo Sanchez

Netherlands

Marco van Basten
Dennis Bergkamp
Johan Cruyff
Edgar Davids
Ruud Gullit
Willy van de Kerkhof
Rene van de Kerkhof
Patrick Kluivert
Johan Neeskens
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Rob Rensenbrink
Frank Rijkaard
Clarence Seedorf

Nigeria

Jay-Jay Okocha

Northern Ireland

George Best

Paraguay

Romerito

Peru

Teofilo Cubillas

Poland

Zbigniew Boniek

Portugal

Rui Costa
Eusebio
Luis Figo

Romania

Gheorghe Hagi

Russia (former Soviet Union)

Rinat Dassaiev

Scotland

Kenny Dalglish

Senegal

El Hadji Diouf

Spain

Emilio Butragueno
Luis Enrique
Raul

Turkey

Emre Belozoglu
Rustu Recber

Ukraine

Andriy Shevchenko

Uruguay

Enzo Francescoli

USA

Michelle Akers
Mia Hamm

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Marcelo Leme de Arruda for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Marcelo Leme de Arruda (mlarruda@terra.com.br)
Last updated: 6 Mar 2004