Pele list of the greatest living football players

The famous Pele list has been up for heated debates around the world. Especially in his own country, Brazil, pele has been critizised for not including Jairzinho, Tostao and Gerson, three of the stars of Brazil's memorable 1970 World Cup triumph. Pele's defence was that there too many Brazilians to choose from.

"I did my best," he told reporters. "I asked if we could have 1,000 players but I was told it should be only 100. I could have picked 100 from Brazil" "I tried to make as few mistakes as possible."

Gerson expressed his anger by appearing on a Brazilian sports television program and tearing up a piece of paper as if it were the Pele list.

"I respect his opinion, but I don't agree," Gerson said. "Taking off Zidane, Platini and Fontaine, I'm behind 11 Frenchmen? This is a joke to have to hear this."

These are the 125 players selected on the Brazilian legend Pele list to mark Fifa's 100th anniversary:

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 Cuelemans

Brazil:

Cafu, Carlos Alberto, Djalma Santos, Falcao, Nilton 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 Repbublic:

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 Matthaeus, Michael Ballack, Oliver Kahn, Paul Breitner, Sepp Maier, Uwe Seeler

Ghana:

Abedi Pele

Holland:

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

Hungary:

Ferenc Puskas

Repubic of 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 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:

Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm

From the Pele list back to Maracana

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