As part of the discussion of the greatest athletes from all sports, including soccer, here is one view of the greatest football (soccer) players of the 20th century. This list of the 100 greatest football players of the 20th century was published in the December 1999 issue of World Soccer, an English language football magazine.

Where is Messi? - This list is of the greatest players of the 20th century - so from the years 1900-1999. Messi made his full international debut in 2005, and like the majority of the current top players were not even on the scene when this vote was taken.

The list is based on a readers' poll, in which the voters picked their top 10 players in order of preference, then points were assigned to each vote a player gained, 10 points for a 1st place vote, 9 points for a 2nd place vote etc.

As with all popular polls, the list suffers from some bias including the voters age and where they are from - it is not surprising to find a disproportionate number of English players and some more recent players who are possibly yet to reach their prime (in 1999 anyway).

Anyway, these lists provide a starting point for discussions on the greatest soccer player ever, though an ending point may never be found. A better listing ofthe player of the century is based on votes by the elite players themselves.

The Best Soccer Players between 2000 to 2025

We have updated this article and added the list of the best soccer players between 2000 to 2025. Lionel Messi is one of the top players in the world at the moment who made it to this list. Another top player that made it to our list is Cristiano Ronaldo. Here's our full list: