Santiago Cañizares (Esp) Valencia CFCosmin Contra (Rom) Deportivo AlavésSami Hyypiä (Fin) Liverpool FCPatrik Andersson (Swe) FC BarcelonaBixente Lizarazu (Fra) FC Bayern MünchenDavid Beckham (Eng) Manchester United FCPatrick Vieira (Fra) Arsenal FCZinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CFKily González (Esp) Valencia CF Thierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FCDavid Trezeguet (Fra) Juventus FCCoach: Gérard Houllier (Fra) Liverpool
Rüstu Reçber (Tur) Fenerbahçe SKCarles Puyol (Esp) FC BarcelonaAlessandro Nesta (Ita) AC MilanCristian Chivu (Rom) AFC AjaxRoberto Carlos (Bra) Real Madrid CFClarence Seedorf (Ned) AC MilanMichael Ballack (Ger) FC Bayern MünchenZinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CFDamien Duff (Ire) Blackburn Rovers FCThierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FCRonaldo (Bra) Real Madrid CFCoach: Senol Günes (Tur) Turkey
Gianluigi Buffon (Ita) Juventus FCPaulo Ferreira (Por) FC PortoAlessandro Nesta (Ita) AC MilanPaolo Maldini (Ita) AC MilanRoberto Carlos (Bra) Real Madrid CFLuís Figo (Por) Real Madrid CFDavid Beckham (Eng) Real Madrid CFZinedine Zidane (Fra) Real Madrid CFPavel Nedved (Cze) Juventus FCThierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FCRuud van Nistelrooij (Ned) Manchester United FCCoach: José Mourinho (Por) FC Porto
Gianluigi Buffon (Ita) Juventus FCCafu (Bra) AC MilanAlessandro Nesta (Ita) AC MilanRicardo Carvalho (Por) FC Porto / ChelseaAshley Cole (Eng) Arsenal FCCristiano Ronaldo (Por) Manchester United FCManiche (Por) FC PortoRonaldinho (Bra) FC BarcelonaPavel Nedved (Cze) Juventus FCThierry Henry (Fra) Arsenal FCAndriy Shevchenko (Ukr) AC MilanCoach:José Mourinho (Por) FC Porto / Chelsea
Petr Cech (Cze) ChelseaCafu (Bra) AC MilanJohn Terry (Eng) ChelseaPuyol (Esp) BarcelonaPaolo Maldini (Ita) AC MilanLuís Garcia (Esp) LiverpoolSteven Gerrard (Eng) LiverpoolRonaldinho (Bra) BarcelonaPavel Nedved (Cze) JuventusSamuel Eto'o (Cam) BarcelonaAndriy Shevchenko (Ukr) AC MilanCoach:José Mourinho (Por) Chelsea
1997/98RonaldoBRAInternazionale (Milano)1998/99David BeckhamENGManchester United1999/00Fernando RedondoARGReal Madrid2000/01Stefan EffenbergGERBayern München2001/02Zinédine ZidaneFRAReal Madrid2002/03Gianluigi BuffonITAJuventus (Torino)2003/04Deco PORFC Porto2004/05 Steven Gerrard ENG Liverpool 2005/06 Ronaldinho BRA Barcelona
1997/98Peter SchmeichelDENManchester United1998/99Oliver KahnGERBayern München1999/00Oliver KahnGERBayern München2000/01Oliver KahnGERBayern München2001/02Oliver KahnGERBayern München2002/03Gianluigi BuffonITAJuventus (Torino)2003/04Vitor Baía PORFC Porto2004/05 Petr Cech CZE Chelsea2005/06 Jens Lehmann GER Arsenal
1997/98Fernando HierroSPAReal Madrid1998/99Jaap StamNEDManchester United1999/00Jaap StamNEDManchester United2000/01Fabián AyalaARGValencia2001/02Roberto CarlosBRAReal Madrid2002/03Roberto CarlosBRAReal Madrid2003/04Ricardo Carvalho PORFC Porto2004/05 John Terry ENG Chelsea2005/06 Carles Puyol SPA Barcelona
1997/98Zinédine ZidaneFRAJuventus (Torino)1998/99David BeckhamENGManchester United1999/00Gaizka MendietaSPAValencia2000/01Gaizka MendietaSPALazio Roma2001/02Michaël BallackGERBayern München2002/03Pavel NedvedCZEJuventus (Torino)2003/04Deco PORFC Porto2004/05 Kaká BRA Milan2005/06 Deco POR Barcelona
1997/98RonaldoBRAInternazionale (Milano)1998/99Andriy ShevchenkoUKRMilan 1999/00Raúl GonzálezSPAReal Madrid2000/01Raúl GonzálezSPAReal Madrid2001/02Ruud van NistelrooijNEDManchester United2002/03Raúl GonzálezSPAReal Madrid2003/04Fernando Morientes ESP AS Monaco (loaned from Real Madrid)2004/05 Ronaldinho BRA Barcelona2005/06 Samuel Eto'o CMR Barcelona
1997/98Marcello LippiITAJuventus (Torino)1998/99Alex FergusonSCOManchester United1999/00Héctor Raúl CuperSPAValencia2000/01Ottmar HitzfeldGERBayern München2001/02Vicente Del BosqueSPAReal Madrid2002/03Carlo AncelottiITAMilan and José MourinhoPORFC Porto2003/04José Mourinho PORFC Porto and Javier Benitez ESP Valencia2004/05 Rafael Benítez ESP Liverpool and Valery Gazzaev RUS CSKA Moscow2005/06 Frank Rjkaard NED Barcelona Juande Ramos ESP Sevilla
At the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2004, UEFA asked each of its52 member associations to nominate one player as the single mostoutstanding player of the period 1954-2003. The following playerswere selected by each country.
Country PlayerAlbania Panajot Pano Andorra KoldoArmenia 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 MasopustDenmark 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 HatzipanagisHungary 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 YashinSan 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 UEFAwebsite. In total 134,796 people casted a vote (eachnotminating 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 Butragueño (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 byErik Garin and Rui Silva for theRec.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 properacknowledgement is given to the authors. All rights reserved.