Pele's not-so-hot 125 greatest soccer stars

As part of its centennial celebrations, FIFA, world soccer's governing body, decided to publish a book of photographs of the 100 greatest living players. The task of compiling the list of players was given to the man widely regarded as the greatest of them all, Pele.

In some ways, Pele was the obvious choice. Not only did he have a spectacularly successful playing career, winning three World Cups with Brazil, the first at the age of 17, he also (unlike, say, Diego Maradona) conducted himself with grace and dignity, and was a superb ambassador for the game.

However, his list was greeted mainly with a mixture of derision and, especially in his homeland, cries of outrage.

For a start, he found himself unable to whittle it down to 100 names, and instead came up with 125. Here they are:

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 Ceulemans.

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 (incl. former Czechoslovakia): 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 (incl. former West 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 (incl. former Soviet Union): 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.

Pele might well have spent an unhealthy amount of time watching tapes of the 2002 World Cup while thinking about this list. How else could he have included so many players who made a good impression in that tournament, but have achieved very little else?

A prime example is El Hadji Diouf, who made a bright contribution to Senegal's surprise success, and then became something of a failure in his club career at Liverpool. The Turkish pair, Emre Belozoglu and Rustu Recber, and South Korea's Hong Myung-Bo, fall into the same category.

He seems to have tried just a little too hard to pick players from as many countries as possible. A staggering 21 nations are represented by just one player each.

Along with the aforementioned El Hadji Diouf and Hong Myung-Bo, are even more dubious cases like Ghanaian underachiever Abedi Pele (no relation), Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan, and the erratic Croatian, Davor Suker.

The inclusion of Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers seems to be another token gesture -- a clumsy attempt at showing some respect for women's soccer. There's no meaningful way of comparing them with male players, so why pretend to do so?

The omissions of some of Pele's most revered teammates from Brazil's legendary 1970 World Cup campaign, notably Gerson, Tostao and Jairzinho, provoked a furious reaction among his compatriots. Gerson himself showed his disapproval by tearing up a copy of the list on television.

A whole host of other players should surely have been in the list (Denis Law, Laurent Blanc, Tom Finney, ...), at the expense of some of the sillier inclusions (Juan Sebastian Veron, Junior, Rui Costa, ...).

These arguments could go on for ever.

In fairness, it's difficult to compare players from different eras, and even more difficult to judge those who have never played in the final stages of the World Cup -- such as Neville Southall and Ian Rush of Wales -- against those who have had the opportunity to prove themselves on the biggest stage of them all.

In addtion, any subjective list such as this one, especially a global one, isn't going to please everybody.

All in all, the list is basically just another of FIFA's increasingly misguided publicity stunts. It probably would have been fairly similar if it had been compiled by the chairman Sepp Blatter himself. Maybe it was.

As for Pele himself, let's be brutally honest. Despite his undoubted greatness as a player, he hasn't achieved anything significant since his playing days ended. There have been plenty of reasons to question his judgment -- even his sanity. In 1986, aged 45, and almost a decade into his (second) retirement, he offered to make a comeback in the World Cup. Should we really take anything this man says seriously?

He has a tendency to try to be all things to all people. Put him in front of an interviewer from almost any country, and he will reel off a few names of players from that country, and say that they're among the best players in the world. The world's greatest soccer player has found a new career as a world-class sycophant, and this is reflected to an embarrassing degree in his top 125 list.

In most sports, it has become clear that great players don't often become great coaches, managers or administrators. The physical attributes that make up a great athlete aren't of any use in these roles, and they obviously don't help very much with list-making either.

Memo to FIFA: Please spend less of your time, money and energy on meaningless, attention-seeking gimmicks, and focus instead on looking after the best interests of the game. That's what you're there for.