Soccer News of Thursday, 4 March 2004

Source: --

Abedi Makes Pele's list of greatest living players

Ex-Ghanaian national captain, Abedi "Pele" Ayew, was included in the FIFA 100 list drawn up under the supervision of Brazilian legend Pele as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. The list actually went to 125 players.

Abedi was the only Ghanaian player that made the list. Ghanaian-born Marcel Desailly also made the list.

Five-times World Cup winners Brazil (15) beat old rivals France and Italy again by having more players than any other country on a FIFA list of the greatest living players. Next came Holland (13), Argentina and Germany (10 each) and England (7).

Although the list was of living players, Pele did include Marc Vivien Foe - who tragically died on the pitch in the Confederations Cup.

FULL LIST OF PLAYERS

ARGENTINA Alfredo Di Stefano, Daniel Passarella, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, Javier Saviola, Javier Zanetti, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mario Kempes, Omar Sivori
BELGIUM Franky van der Elst, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Jan Cuelemens
BRAZIL Cafu, Carlos Alberto, Djalma Santos, Falcao, Milton Santos, Junior, Pele, Rivaldo, Rivelino, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Socrates, Zico
BULGARIA Hristo Stoichkov
CAMEROON Roger Milla
CHILE Pablo Figueroa, Ivan Zamorano
COLOMBIA Carlos Valderrama
CROATIA Davor Suker
CZECH REPUBLIC Josef Masopust, Pavel Nedved
DENMARK Brian Laudrup, Michael Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel
ENGLAND Alan Shearer, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Gary Lineker, Gordon Banks, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen
FRANCE David Trezeguet, Didier Deschamps, Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, Just Fontaine, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Marius Tresor, Michel Platini, Patrick Vieira, Raymond Kopa, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane
GERMANY Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaus, Michael Ballack, Oliver Kahn, Paul Breitner, Sepp Maier, Uwe Seeler

GHANA Abedi Pele

HUNGARY Ferenc Puskas
IRELAND Roy Keane
ITALY Alessandro Del Piero, Alessandro Nesta, Christian Vieri, Dino Zoff, Francesco Totti, Franco Baresi, Giampiero Boniperti, Giacinto Fachetti, Gianluca Buffon, Gianni Rivera, Giuseppe Bergomi, Paolo Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio
JAPAN Hidetoshi Nakata
LIBERIA George Weah
MEXICO Hugo Sanchez
NETHERLANDS Clarence Seedorf, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Frank Rijkaard, Johan Neeskens, Johan Cruyff, Marco Van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Rene van de Kerkhof, Rob Rensenbrink, Ruud Gullit, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Willie van de Kerkhof
NIGERIA Jay-Jay Okocha
NORTHERN IRELAND George Best
PARAGUAY Romerito
PERU Teofilo Cubillas
POLAND Zbigniew Boniek
PORTUGAL Eusebio, Luis Figo, Rui Costa
ROMANIA Gheorghe Hagi
RUSSIA Rinat Disayev
SCOTLAND Kenny Dalglish
SENEGAL El Hadji Diouf
SOUTH KOREA Hong Myung-Bo
SPAIN Emilio Butragueno, Luis Enrique, Raul
TURKEY Emre Belozoglu, Rustu Recber
UKRAINE Andriy Shevchenko
URUGUAY Enzo Francescoli
UNITED STATES (women) Michelle Akers, Mia Ham