Fifa's 125 greatest living players list Pele has revealed his list of the 125 greatest living players at Fifa's centenary gala in London on Thursday. Five-time World Cup-winners Brazil had the most players - 15 - with Italy and France both getting 14 nominations. Argentina: Alfredo Di Stefano, Daniel Passarella, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, Javier Saviola, Javier Zanetti, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mario Kempes, Omar Sivori Belgium: Franky van der Elst, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Jan Cuelemans Brazil: Cafu, Carlos Alberto, Djalma Santos, Falcao, Nilton Santos, Junior, Pele, Rivaldo, Rivelino, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Socrates, Zico Bulgaria: Hristo Stoichkov Cameroon: Roger Milla Chile: Pablo Figueroa, Ivan Zamorano Colombia: Carlos Valderrama Croatia: Davor Suker Czech Repbublic: Josef Masopust, Pavel Nedved Denmark: Brian Laudrup, Michael Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel England: Alan Shearer, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Gary Lineker, Gordon Banks, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen France: David Trezeguet, Didier Deschamps, Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, Just Fontaine, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Marius Tresor, Michel Platini, Patrick Vieira, Raymond Kopa, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane Germany: Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaeus, Michael Ballack, Oliver Kahn, Paul Breitner, Sepp Maier, Uwe Seeler Ghana: Abedi Pele Holland: Clarence Seedorf, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Frank Rijkaard, Johan Neeskens, Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Rene van de Kerkhof, Rob Rensenbrink, Ruud Gullit, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Willie van de Kerkhof Hungary: Ferenc Puskas Repubic of Ireland: Roy Keane Italy: Alessandro Del Piero, Alessandro Nesta, Christian Vieri, Dino Zoff, Francesco Totti, Franco Baresi, Giampiero Boniperti, Giacinto Fachetti, Gianluca Buffon, Gianni Rivera, Giuseppe Bergomi, Paolo Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio Japan: Hidetoshi Nakata Liberia: George Weah Mexico: Hugo Sanchez Nigeria: Jay-Jay Okocha Northern Ireland: George Best Paraguay: Romerito Peru: Teofilo Cubillas Poland: Zbigniew Boniek Portugal: Eusebio, Luis Figo, Rui Costa Romania: Gheorghe Hagi Russia: Rinat Disayev Scotland: Kenny Dalglish Senegal: El Hadji Diouf South Korea: Hong Myung-Bo Spain: Emilio Butragueno, Luis Enrique, Raul Turkey: Emre Belozoglu, Rustu Recber Ukraine: Andriy Shevchenko Uruguay: Enzo Francescoli United States: Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm (haha! these are women)
Diouf, Okocha, Nakata, Buffon, Pires & Suker all seem pretty weak names to me. The most notable players not inc. IMO are Savicevic & Garrincha. Ballack, Saviola, Owen & Totti still have to perform well for a period of years to become a "great" id say.... If you could be picked on the back of a good two years Id have Georgie Kinkladze in there as well. On his day I havent seen a better dribbler.
Roy Keane??? ffs! I didn't realise it was living players at first... still pele looks as if he is losing the plot ever so slightly...
Are u serious? Keane would walk into a Top 50, let alone a 125. He has been the single most dominant force in the premiership for over a decade.
He's a thug and an overrated one at that. I can see he has qualities but I think gamesmanship should also play a factor. Maybe the fact he has been sent off twice against Boro has made me biased... but for someone like Pele to pick him is very surprising to me... but then the Brazilian game now is about who can foul the most.
It is fact. The brazilian national league no longer plays the "beautiful game". Skillful players are routinely and cynically fouled. A ridiculously high amount of fouls are committed in league games and 2 "midfield destroyers" are now a common alternative to 1 holding and 1 central attacking midfielder. Luiz Felipe Scolari famously has told his players to foul the opposition while he was at Palmeiras... he makes no secret of this. The brazilian game is a mess... "No reporters or dodgy nets in the way, but Santos still went at it hammer and tongs as they lost 2-0 to Corinthians in the second leg of their three-match Brazilian championship semi-final. Santos had captain Narciso sent off in the 31st minute for a vicious lunge at Corinthians' striker Marcelinho, one of 39 fouls in the first half alone. But before heading for the dressing room, the midfielder had to be restrained by team mates from fighting with Corinthians players. It was one of several first half scraps which forced the referee to play seven minutes of injury time. Corinthians had gone ahead through a Marcelinho penalty, which took nearly five minutes to take as Santos players argued with the referee and attempted to distract the penalty taker. According to championship statistics, they commit an average of 31 fouls per game" And that quote just shows the start of it...
