# FIFA Player of the Century

FIFA Player of the Century was a one-off award created by FIFA to decide the greatest football player of the 20th century, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2000. Diego Maradona and Pelé were joint winners of the award.

## Background

Since 1991, FIFA has had awards for FIFA World Player of the Year and they decided to bring in the year 2000 by conducting a public vote to decide the FIFA 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. 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, who voted Pelé the best player of the century with 72.75% of the vote, thus both were joint winners of the award.
Though that it was decided for two awards to be given (one for the Internet poll and one for the Football Committee voting), an overall list of the overall winner and the voted players was published. Each percentage of the two polls would be multiplied by 50% and they would be combined into a total result based on the Internet and the Grand Jury's separate procedures.

## Results
### FIFA Internet vote

The results of FIFA's internet Poll were as follows: 27 players were voted. The results by percentage would be multiplied by 50$ for the overall result.
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Percentage |
| 1 | Diego Maradona | Argentina | 53.60% |
| 2 | Pelé | Brazil | 18.53% |
| 3 | Eusébio | Portugal | 6.21% |
| 4 | Roberto Baggio | Italy | 5.42% |
| 5 | Romário | Brazil | 1.69% |
| 6 | Marco van Basten | Netherlands | 1.57% |
| 7 | Ronaldo | Brazil | 1.55% |
| 8 | Franz Beckenbauer | Germany | 1.50% |
| 9 | Zinedine Zidane | France | 1.34% |
| 10 | Rivaldo | Brazil | 1.19% |
| 11 | Zico | Brazil | 1.15% |
| 12 | Garrincha | Brazil | 1.08% |
| 13 | Johan Cruyff | Netherlands | 0.87% |
| 14 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Argentina Spain | 0.68% |
| 15 | Michel Platini | France | 0.58% |
| 16 | Bobby Charlton | England | 0.39% |
| 17 | Ferenc Puskás | Hungary | 0.37% |
| 18 | Lothar Matthäus | Germany | 0.37% |
| 19 | Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | 0.36% |
| 20 | George Best | Northern Ireland | 0.32% |
| 21 | Dino Zoff | Italy | 0.24% |
| 22 | Didi | Brazil | 0.22% |
| 23 | Stanley Matthews | England | 0.18% |
| 24 | George Weah | Liberia | 0.18% |
| 25 | Bobby Moore | England | 0.17% |
| 26 | Just Fontaine | France | 0.13% |
| 27 | Gerd Muller | Germany | 0.11% |

### FIFA Committee

The Football Committee (or Grand Jury) consisted of a group of experts who voted for the best player. Only Pele and Alfredo Di Stéfano received votes.
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Percentage |
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil | 87.50% |
| 2 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Argentina Spain | 12.50% |

### FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury vote

This part of the award was decided by the FIFA Magazine readers vote and the FIFA Grand Jury. Both the Internet Poll and the Football Committe's results were multiplied by 50% for the overall percentages.
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Percentage |
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil | 72.75% |
| 2 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | Argentina Spain | 9.75% |
| 3 | Diego Maradona | Argentina | 6.0% |
| 4 | Franz Beckenbauer | Germany | 2.5% |
| 5 | Johan Cruyff | Netherlands | 2.0% |
| 5 | George Best | Northern Ireland | 2.0% |
| 7 | Roberto Baggio | Italy | 1.0% |
| 7 | Garrincha | Brazil | 1.0% |
| 7 | Zico | Brazil | 1.0% |
| 7 | Michel Platini | France | 1.0% |
| 7 | Gerd Müller | Germany | 1.0% |