IFFHS XXth CENTURY (1901-2000) WORLD PLAYER - PELE NUMBER 1

• Apr 17, 2021
• History Statistics

Picture : PELE, the Number 1 in the XXth Century

The 3 Best World Players of the XXth Century together in New York with Cosmos (1977-1978).

PRELUDE

 

 

In the year 2000, the IFFHS has organized the votes to elect the "Football Players of the XXth Century" of the World and the Continents, also separate elections for the "Goalkeepers of the XXth Century".  The elections were based on polls of journalists, former players and specialists .

All results were published in two books and all the winners were crowned in two WORLD FOOTBALL GALAS in Germany in 2000 and 2001.

 

In the next weeks, the IFFHS will publish the new ALL TIME TEAMS of the World, the Continents and the Countries from 1901 to 2020 ! Before that, we remember all rankings of the XXth Century (1901 – 2000) based on the elections of the IFFHS in 2000.

THE IFFHS RANKING OF THE WORLD'S BEST PLAYER OF THE XXth CENTURY

Pelé was crowned sovereign as THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER OF THE XXth Century by IFFHS with a large advance before the 4 other great Century Players Johan Cruijff, Franz Beckenbauer, Diego Maradona and Alfredo Di Stefano. This is really the WORLD’S TOP 5 OF THE XXth CENTURY (picture up) !

XXth CENTURY WORLD RANKING

Rank	Player	Country	Points
1	Edson Arantes do Nascimento "PELE"	Brazil	1705
2	Hendryk Johannes CRUIJFF	Netherlands	1303
3	Franz BECKENBAUER	Germany	1228
4	Alfredo DI STEFANO	Argentina/Spain	1215
5	Diego Armando MARADONA	Argentina	1214
6	Ferenc PUSKAS	Hungary	810
7	Michel PLATINI	France	722
8	Manoel Dos Santos "GARRINCHA"	Brazil	624
9	EUSEBIO Ferreira da Silva	Portugal	544
10	Sir Robert CHARLTON	England	508
11	Sir Stanley MATTHEWS	England	368
12	Marcel "Marco" VAN BASTEN	Netherlands	315
13	Gerhard "Gerd" MULLER	Germany	265
14	Arthur Antunes Coimbra ZICO	Brazil	207
15	Lothar MATTHÄUS	Germany	202
16	George BEST	Northern Ireland	187
17	Juan Alberto SCHIAFFINO	Uruguay	158
18	Ruud GULLIT Dil	Netherlands	119
19	Gianni RIVERA	Italy	116
	Valdir Pereira DIDI	Brazil	116
21	Guiseppe MEAZZA	Italy	108
22	Mathias SINDELAR	Austria	106
23	Fritz WALTER	Germany	103
24	Robert MOORE	England	98
25	Jose Manuel MORENO	Argentina	96
26	Hugo SANCHEZ	Mexico	85
27	George WEAH	Liberia	79
28	Roger MILLA	Cameroon	78
29	Jose Leandro ANDRADE	Uruguay	74
30	Francisco GENTO	Spain	73
	Just FONTAINE	France	73
32	Ladislao KUBALA	Spain	71
33	Franco BARESI	Italy	70
34	Josef BICAN	Czechoslovakia	63
35	Karl Heinz RUMMENNIGGE	Germany	59
36	Enrique Omar SIVORI	Argentina	56
37	Elias Ricardo FIGUEROA	Chile	55
38	Kevin KEEGAN	England	53
39	Sandor KOCSIS	Hungary	52
40	Hector SCARONE	Uruguay	51
41	Josef MASOPUST	Czechoslovakia	46
42	Giacinto FACCHETTI	Italy	44
43	Alessandro MAZZOLA	Italy	41
	Raymond KOPA	France	41
45	Uwe SEELER	Germany	40
46	Gunnar NORDAHL	Sweden	36
47	Thomas Soares ZIZINHO	Brazil	35
48	Teofilo CUBILLAS	Peru	34
49	Arsenio Pastor ERICO	Paraguay	30
50	Denis LAW	Scotland	29