Santiago Cańizares (Esp) Valencia CF Cosmin Contra (Rom) Deportivo Alavés Sami Hyypiä (Fin) Liverpool FC Patrik Andersson (Swe) FC Barcelona Bixente Lizarazu (Fra) FC Bayern München David Beckham (Eng) Manchester United FC Patrick Vieira (Fra) Arsenal FC Zinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CF Kily González (Esp) Valencia CF Thierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FC David Trezeguet (Fra) Juventus FC Coach: Gérard Houllier (Fra) Liverpool
Rüstu Reçber (Tur) Fenerbahçe SK Carles Puyol (Esp) FC Barcelona Alessandro Nesta (Ita) AC Milan Cristian Chivu (Rom) AFC Ajax Roberto Carlos (Bra) Real Madrid CF Clarence Seedorf (Ned) AC Milan Michael Ballack (Ger) FC Bayern München Zinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CF Damien Duff (Ire) Blackburn Rovers FC Thierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FC Ronaldo (Bra) Real Madrid CF Coach: Senol Günes (Tur) Turkey
Gianluigi Buffon (Ita) Juventus FC Paulo Ferreira (Por) FC Porto Alessandro Nesta (Ita) AC Milan Paolo Maldini (Ita) AC Milan Roberto Carlos (Bra) Real Madrid CF Luís Figo (Por) Real Madrid CF David Beckham (Eng) Real Madrid CF Zinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CF Pavel Nedved (Cze) Juventus FC Thierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FC Ruud van Nistelrooij (Ned) Manchester United FC Coach: José Mourinho (Por) FC Porto
Gianluigi Buffon (Ita) Juventus FC Cafu (Bra) AC Milan Alessandro Nesta (Ita) AC Milan Ricardo Carvalho (Por) FC Porto / Chelsea Ashley Cole (Eng) Arsenal FC Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) Manchester United FC Maniche (Por) FC Porto Ronaldinho (Bra) FC Barcelona Pavel Nedved (Cze) Juventus FC Thierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FC Andriy Shevchenko (Ukr) AC Milan Coach: José Mourinho (Por) FC Porto / Chelsea
Petr Cech (Cze) Chelsea Cafu (Bra) AC Milan John Terry (Eng) Chelsea Puyol (Esp) Barcelona Paolo Maldini (Ita) AC Milan Luís Garcia (Esp) Liverpool Steven Gerrard (Eng) Liverpool Ronaldinho (Bra) Barcelona Pavel Nedved (Cze) Juventus Samuel Eto'o (Cam) Barcelona Andriy Shevchenko (Ukr) AC Milan Coach: José Mourinho (Por) Chelsea
1997/98 Ronaldo BRA Internazionale (Milano) 1998/99 David Beckham ENG Manchester United 1999/00 Fernando Redondo ARG Real Madrid 2000/01 Stefan Effenberg GER Bayern München 2001/02 Zinédine Zidane FRA Real Madrid 2002/03 Gianluigi Buffon ITA Juventus (Torino) 2003/04 Deco POR FC Porto 2004/05 Steven Gerrard ENG Liverpool 2005/06 Ronaldinho BRA Barcelona
1997/98 Peter Schmeichel DEN Manchester United 1998/99 Oliver Kahn GER Bayern München 1999/00 Oliver Kahn GER Bayern München 2000/01 Oliver Kahn GER Bayern München 2001/02 Oliver Kahn GER Bayern München 2002/03 Gianluigi Buffon ITA Juventus (Torino) 2003/04 Vitor Baía POR FC Porto 2004/05 Petr Cech CZE Chelsea 2005/06 Jens Lehmann GER Arsenal
1997/98 Fernando Hierro SPA Real Madrid 1998/99 Jaap Stam NED Manchester United 1999/00 Jaap Stam NED Manchester United 2000/01 Fabián Ayala ARG Valencia 2001/02 Roberto Carlos BRA Real Madrid 2002/03 Roberto Carlos BRA Real Madrid 2003/04 Ricardo Carvalho POR FC Porto 2004/05 John Terry ENG Chelsea 2005/06 Carles Puyol SPA Barcelona
1997/98 Zinédine Zidane FRA Juventus (Torino) 1998/99 David Beckham ENG Manchester United 1999/00 Gaizka Mendieta SPA Valencia 2000/01 Gaizka Mendieta SPA Lazio Roma 2001/02 Michaël Ballack GER Bayern München 2002/03 Pavel Nedved CZE Juventus (Torino) 2003/04 Deco POR FC Porto 2004/05 Kaká BRA Milan 2005/06 Deco POR Barcelona
1997/98 Ronaldo BRA Internazionale (Milano) 1998/99 Andriy Shevchenko UKR Milan 1999/00 Raúl González SPA Real Madrid 2000/01 Raúl González SPA Real Madrid 2001/02 Ruud van Nistelrooij NED Manchester United 2002/03 Raúl González SPA Real Madrid 2003/04 Fernando Morientes ESP AS Monaco (loaned from Real Madrid) 2004/05 Ronaldinho BRA Barcelona 2005/06 Samuel Eto'o CMR Barcelona
1997/98 Marcello Lippi ITA Juventus (Torino)
1998/99 Alex Ferguson SCO Manchester United
1999/00 Héctor Raúl Cuper SPA Valencia
2000/01 Ottmar Hitzfeld GER Bayern München
2001/02 Vicente Del Bosque SPA Real Madrid
2002/03 Carlo Ancelotti ITA Milan
and José Mourinho POR FC Porto
2003/04 José Mourinho POR FC Porto
and Javier Benitez ESP Valencia
2004/05 Rafael Benítez ESP Liverpool
and Valery Gazzaev RUS CSKA Moscow
2005/06 Frank Rjkaard NED Barcelona
Juande Ramos ESP Sevilla
At the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2004, UEFA asked each of its 52 member associations to nominate one player as the single most outstanding player of the period 1954-2003. The following players were selected by each country.
Country Player Albania Panajot Pano Andorra Koldo Armenia Khoren Hovhannisyan Austria Herbert Prohaska Azerbaijan Anatoli Banishevski Belarus Sergei Aleinikov Belgium Paul Van Himst Bosnia-Herzegovina Safet Susic Bulgaria Hristo Stoitchkov Croatia Davor uker Cyprus Sotiris Kaiafas Czech Republic Josef Masopust Denmark Michael Laudrup England Bobby Moore Estonia Mart Poom Faroe Islands Abraham Lokin (Abraham Hansen) Finland Jari Litmanen France Just Fontaine Georgia Murtaz Khurtsilava Germany Fritz Walter Greece Vassilis Hatzipanagis Hungary Ferenc Puskás Iceland Asgeir Sigurvinsson Ireland Johnny Giles Israel Mordechai Shpigler Italy Dino Zoff Kazakhstan Sergey Kvochkin Latvia Aleksandrs Starkovs Liechtenstein Rainer Hasler Lithuania Arminas Narbekovas Luxembourg Louis Pilot Macedonia Darko Pancev Malta Carmel Busuttil Moldova Pavel Cebanu Netherlands Johan Cruijff Northern Ireland Pat Jennings Norway Rune Bratseth Poland Wlodzimierz Lubanski Portugal Eusébio Romania Gheorghe Hagi Russia Lev Yashin San Marino Massimo Bonini Scotland Denis Law Serbia and Montenegro Dragan Dzajic Slovakia Ján Popluhár Slovenia Brane Oblak Spain Alfredo Di Stéfano Sweden Henrik Larsson Switzerland Stéphane Chapuisat Turkey Hakan Sükür Ukraine Oleh Blokhin Wales John Charles
UEFA named 250 players (50 for each decade of its existence) to be chosen in a Jubilee Poll by the visitors of the UEFA website. In total 134,796 people casted a vote (each notminating 10 players per decade, making the overall number of votes cast 6,739,800).
Nr player (country) votes
1 Zinédine Zidane (France) 123,582
2 Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany) 122,569
3 Johan Cruijff (Netherlands) 119,332
4 Marco van Basten (Netherlands) 117,987
5 Dino Zoff (Italy) 114,529
6 Alfredo Di Stéfano (Spain) 107,435
7 Eusébio (Portugal) 103,937
8 Lev Yashin (Soviet Union) 101,862
9 Michel Platini (France) 99,380
10 Paolo Maldini (Italy) 95,497
11 Ferenc Puskás (Hungary/Spain) 94,361
12 Paolo Rossi (Italy) 91,194
13 Ruud Gullit (Netherlands) 91,001
14 Bobby Charlton (England) 89,921
15 Lothar Matthäus (West Germany) 86,798
16 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany) 86,649
17 Franco Baresi (Italy) 83,800
18 Gerd Müller (West Germany) 82,668
19 George Best (N. Ireland) 79,036
20 Kevin Keegan (England) 78,840
21 Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands) 71,333
22 David Beckham (England) 71,299
23 Bobby Moore (England) 70,884
24 Roberto Baggio (Italy) 68,239
25 Michael Laudrup (Denmark) 67,484
26 Ronald Koeman (Netherlands) 66,661
27 Peter Schmeichel (Denmark) 66,463
28 Gheorghe Hagi (Romania) 62,383
29 Sepp Maier (West Germany) 62,375
30 Oliver Kahn (Germany) 58,151
31 Luís Figo (Portugal) 58,078
32 Raúl González (Spain) 56,880
33 Berti Vogts (West Germany) 55,398
34 Johan Neeskens (Netherlands) 54,796
35 Gianni Rivera (Italy) 53,874
36 José Antonio Camacho (Spain) 53,873
37 Marco Tardelli (Italy) 53,732
38 Just Fontaine (France) 53,612
39 Peter Shilton (England) 50,841
40 Bernd Schuster (West Germany) 50,247
41 Raymond Kopa (France) 49,504
42 Eric Cantona (France) 48,436
43 Stanley Matthews (England) 47,915
44 Ruud van Nistelrooij (Netherlands) 47,398
45 Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union) 46,022
46 Gary Lineker (England) 44,787
47 Alessandro Nesta (Italy) 44,667
48 José Emilio Santamaría (Uruguay/Spain) 43,690
49 Alessandro Del Piero (Italy) 43,227
50 Alessandro Costacurta (Italy) 42,511
51 Kenny Dalglish (Scotland) 36,630
52 Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine) 36,207
53 Germano (Portugal) 35,024
54 Billy Wright (England) not listed
55 Gordon Banks (England) 34,651
56 Zbigniew Boniek (Poland) 34,046
57 Francisco Gento (Spain) 33,871
58 Ruud Krol (Netherlands) 32,799
59 Costa Pereira (Portugal) 32,781
60 Thierry Henry (France) 32,700
61 Duncan Edwards (England) 32,678
62 Claudio Gentile (Italy) 32,533
63 Luis Suárez (Spain) 32,325
64 Jürgen Klinsmann ((West) Germany) 31,277
65 Andoni Zubizarreta (Spain) 31,035
66 Bruno Conti (Italy) 30,902
67 Laszló/Ladislao Kubala (Hungary/Spain) 30,516
68 Fritz Walter (West Germany) 29,973
69 Nils Liedholm (Sweden) 29,925
70 Rudi Völler ((West) Germany) 29,902
71 Igor Netto (Soviet Union) 29,750
72 Paul Gascoigne (England) 29,749
73 Edgar Davids (Netherlands) 29,086
74 Paul Breitner (West Germany) 29,050
75 Fernando Hierro (Spain) 28,612
76 Jean-Pierre Papin (France) 28,044
77 Hristo Stoitchkov (Bulgaria) 28,006
78 Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands) 27,745
79 Emilio Butragueńo (Spain) 27,411
80 Oleh Blokhin (Soviet Union) 27,395
81 Erik Gerets (Belgium) not listed
82 Juan Alberto Schiaffino (Uruguay) not listed
83 Rui Costa (Portugal) 26,838
84 Sandro Mazzola (Italy) 26,679
85 Michel Preud'homme (Belgium) 26,621
86 Giancarlo Antognoni (Italy) 26,268
87 Hansi Müller (West Germany) 26,224
88 Christian Vieri (Italy) 25,388
89 Omar Sivori (Argentina/Italy) 25,277
90 Sándor Kocsis (Hungary) 25,125
91 Juanito (Spain) not listed
92 Zvonimir Boban (Croatia) 25,078
93 Branko Zebec (Yugoslavia) 24,747
94 José Juan Altafini (Brazil) 24,673
95 Alain Giresse (France) 24,408
96 Roberto Bettega (Italy) 24,400
97 Rinat Dasaev (Soviet Union) 24,197
98 József Bozsik (Hungary) 24,086
99 Pirri (Spain) 23,968
100 Luigi Riva (Italy) 23,649
Prepared and maintained by Erik Garin and Rui Silva for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Authors: Erik Garin
(garinerik@hispeed.ch)
and Rui MC Silva
(ruisilva@cyclolusitano.com)
Last updated: 21 Dec 2006
(C) Copyright Erik Garin, Rui Silva and RSSSF 2003/06
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the authors. All rights reserved.