Pictures : Pelé, Johan Cruijff and Franz Beckenbauer , Valentina Yashina, the wife of Lev Yashin ,  Michelle Akers and Mia Hamm, Gordon Banks

The “World Football Gala ” ,organized by IFFHS in January 4th 2000 in Rotenburg an der Fulda (Germany), was a great moment in the Football History with the nominations of THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER and GOALKEEPER OF THE CENTURY (1900-1999). Journalists and former players of all continents in the World voted the Best Man and Woman Player of the Century. Pelé won the ranking of THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER OF THE CENTURY with a confortable advance before the two european stars Johan Cruijff and Franz Beckenbauer.  Mia Hamm before  Michelle Akers : the American girls were voted as n° 1 and 2 of the ranking THE WORLD’S BEST WOMAN PLAYER OF THE CENTURY  and Russian Goalkeeper Lev Yashin won with a great advance the ranking of THE WORLD’S BEST GOALKEEPER OF THE CENTURY. Here the different rankings :

World – Player of the Century

 1."Pelé"                 (Brazil)        1705  (Edson Arantes do Nascimento)
2.Johan Cruijff          (Netherlands)   1303
3.Franz Beckenbauer      (Germany)       1228
4.Alfredo di Stéfano     (Argentina)     1215
5.Diego Armando Maradona (Argentina)     1214
6.Ferenc Puskás          (Hungary)        810
7.Michel Platini         (France)         722
8.Garrincha              (Brazil)         624  (Manoel dos Santos Garrincha)
9.Eusébio                (Portugal)       544  (Eusébio Ferreira da Silva)
10.Robert Charlton        (England)        508
11.Stanley Matthews       (England)        368
12.Marco van Basten       (Netherlands)    315
13.Gerd Müller            (Germany)        265
14.Zico                   (Brazil)         207
15.Lothar Matthäus        (Germany)        202
16.George Best            (N. Ireland)     187
17.Juan Alberto Schiaffino(Uruguay)        158
18.Ruud Gullit            (Netherlands)    119
19.Valdir Pereira Didi    (Brazil)         116
Gianni Rivera          (Italy)          116
21.Giuseppe Meazza        (Italy)          108
22.Matthias Sindelar      (Austria)        106
23 Fritz Walter           (Germany)        103
24.Robert Moore           (England)         98
25.José Manuel Moreno     (Argentina)       96
26.Hugo Sánchez           (Mexico)          85
27.George Weah            (Liberia)         79
28.Roger Milla            (Cameroon)        78
29.José Leonardo Andrade  (Uruguay)         74
30.Just Fontaine          (France)          73
Francisco Gento        (Spain)           73
32.Ladislao Kubala        (Spain)           71
33.Franco Baresi          (Italy)           70
34.Josef Bican            (Czechoslovakia)  63
35.Karl-Heinz Rummenigge  (Germany)         59
36.Omar Sivori            (Argentina)       56
37.Elias Figueroa         (Chile)           55
38.Kevin Keegan           (England)         53
39.Sándor Kocsis          (Hungary)         52
40.Héctor Scarone         (Uruguay)         51
41.Josef Masopust         (Czechoslovakia)  46
42.Giacchinto Facchetti   (Italy)           44
43.Raymond Kopa           (France)          41
Alessandro Mazzola     (Italy)           41
45.Uwe Seeler             (Germany)         40
46.Gunnar Nordahl         (Sweden)          36
47.Zizinho                (Brazil)          35
48.Teófilo Cubillas       (Peru)            34
49.Arsenio Erico          (Paraguay)        30
50.Denis Law              (Scotland)        29

World – Female Player of the Century

 1.Mia Hamm               (USA)            443
2.Michelle Akers         (USA)            411
3.Heidi Mohr             (Germany)        250
4.Carolina Morace        (Italy)          230
5.Sissi                  (Brazil)         212
6.Linda Medalen          (Norway)         181
7.Liu Ailing             (China)          165
8.Kristine Lilly         (USA)            160
9.Heidi Støre            (Norway)         141
10.Pia Sundhage           (Sweden)         129
11.Joulie Foudy           (USA)            117
12.Gao Hong               (China)          100
13.Silvia Neid            (Germany)         83
14.Joy Fawcett            (USA)             82
15.Elisabetta Vignotto    (Italy)           77
16.Helge Riise            (Norway)          76
17.Bettina Wiegmann       (Germany)         73
18.Sun Qing-Mei           (China)           63
19.Pretinha               (Brazil)          46
20.Martina Voss           (Germany)         39
21.Gro Espeseth           (Norway)          32
Lena Videkull          (Sweden)          32
23.Ann Kristin Aarønes    (Norway)          29
24.Charmaine Hooper       (Canada)          27
Gunn Nyborg            (Norway)          27
26.Carin Gabarra-Jennings (USA)             25
Fan Yunjie             (China)           25
28.Anette Börjesson       (Sweden)          24
29.Doris Fitschen         (Germany)         23
30.Alicia Vargas          (Mexico)          22
31.Roseli                 (Brazil)          21
32.Elisabeth Leidinge     (Sweden)          20 
33.Birthe Hegstadt        (Norway)          18

World – Keeper of the Century

 1.Lev Yashin             (Soviet Union)  1002
2.Gordon Banks           (England)        717
3.Dino Zoff              (Italy)          661
4.Sepp Maier             (Germany)        456
5.Ricardo Zamora         (Spain)          443
6.José Luis Félix Chilavert(Paraguay)     373
7.Peter Schmeichel       (Denmark)        291
8.Peter Shilton          (England)        196
9.František Plánicka     (Czechoslovakia) 194
10.Amadeo Raúl Carrizo    (Argentina)      192
11.Gilmar dos Santos Neves(Brazil)         160
12.Ladislao Mazurkiewicz  (Uruguay)        144
13.Patrick Jennings       (N. Ireland)     132
14.Ubaldo Matildo Fillol  (Argentina)      121
15.Antonio Carbajal       (Mexico)         105
16.Jean-Marie Pfaff       (Belgium)         95
17.Rinat Dasaev           (Soviet Union)    89
18.Gyula Grosics          (Hungary)         87
19.Thomas Ravelli         (Sweden)          66
20.Walter Zenga           (Italy)           62