FIFA Player of the Century was a one-off award created byFIFA to decide the greatestfootball player of the 20th century, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2000.[1]Diego Maradona andPelé were joint winners of the award.[2][3][4]
Since 1991, FIFA has had awards forFIFA World Player of the Year and they decided to bring in the year 2000 by conducting a public vote to decide theFIFA Player of the Century. This was to be decided by votes on their official website, their official magazine, and a grand jury. Maradona won the Internet-based poll by wide margins, garnering 53.6% of the votes against 18.53% for Pelé.[5] Many observers complained that the Internet nature of the poll would have meant a skewed demographic of younger fans who would have seen Maradona play, but not Pelé.
As a result, FIFA decided to add a second poll and appointed a "Football Family" committee composed of football journalists, officials, and coaches (50%), and also a voting from the FIFA Magazine subscribers (50%) who voted Pelé the best player of the century with an overall 72.75% of the vote. Thus both were joint winners of the award.[6]
This part of the award was decided by the FIFA Magazine readers vote and the FIFA Grand Jury.[7] Both the FIFA Magazine and the Football Committee's results were multiplied by 50% for the overall percentages of the two separate procedures.
Pelé was the overall winner (FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote).
TheFootball Committee (or Grand Jury) consisted of a group of experts who voted for the best player and the results were multiplied by 50%. OnlyPele andAlfredo Di Stéfano received votes.
The FIFA Magazine readers voted in a separate poll contributing 50% to the final result of the FIFA Magazine and Grand jury vote, withPele as the winner.
Argentina
Brazil
Portugal
Italy
Netherlands
Germany
France
Spain
England
Hungary
Soviet Union
Northern Ireland
Liberia
