As part of the discussion of the greatest athletes from all sports including soccer, here is one view of the greatest football (soccer) players of the 20th century. This list of the 100 greatest football players of the 20th century was published in the December 1999 issue of World Soccer, an english language football magazine.Where is Messi? - This list is of the greatest players of the 20th century - so from the years 1900-1999. Messi made his full international debut in 2005, and like the majority of the current top players were not on the scene when this vote was taken.The list is based on a readers #39; poll, in which the voters picked their top 10 players in order of preference, then points were assigned to each vote a player gained, 10 points for a 1st place vote, 9 points for a 2nd place vote etc. As with all popular polls, the list suffers from some bias including the voters age and where they are from - it is not surprising to find a disproportionate number of English players and some more recent players who are possibly yet to reach their prime (in 1999 anyway). Anyway, these lists provide a starting point for discussions on the greatest soccer player ever, though an ending point may never be found.Ranking Player Pts. National Team/s1 Pelé 5499 Brazil2 Diego Maradona 3949 Argentina3 Johan Cruyff 3388 Netherlands4 Franz Beckenbauer 2780 West Germany5 Michel Platini 1854 France6 Alfredo Di Stéfano 1541 Argentina; Spain7 Ferenc Puskás 1537 Hungary; Spain8 George Best 1190 Northern Ireland9 Marco van Basten 1026 Netherlands10 Eusébio Ferreira da Silva 1022 Portugal11 Lev Yashin 821 U.S.S.R.12 Bobby Charlton 680 England13 Ronaldo 541 Brazil14 Bobby Moore 539 England15 Gerd Muller 498 West Germany16 Roberto Baggio 486 Italy17 Stanley Matthews 429 England18 Zico 390 Brazil19 Franco Baresi 371 Italy20 Garrincha 361 Brazil21 Paolo Maldini 345 Italy22 Kenny Dalglish 334 Scotland23 Gabriel Batistuta 300 Argentina24 Eric Cantona 299 France25 Gheorghe Hagi 293 Romania26 Romario 257 Brazil27 Jairzinho 248 Brazil28 Zinedine Zidane 238 France29 Ruud Gullitt 221 Netherlands30 John Charles 212 Wales31 Lothar Mathaus 202 West Germany, Germany32 Gordon Banks 178 England33 Jurgen Klinsmann 168 Germany34 Dennis Bergkamp 150 Netherlands35 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 149 West Germany36 Gary Lineker 134 England37 Giuseppe Meazza 132 Italy38 Rivelino 124 Brazil39 Didi 123 Brazil40 Ian Rush 109 Wales=41 Peter Schmeichel 104 DenmarkPaolo Rossi Italy43 George Weah 99 Liberia44 Michael Owen 90 England45 Just Fontaine 88 France46 Duncan Edwards 86 England47 Dino Zoff 80 Italy48 Hristo Stoichkov 77 Bulgaria49 David Beckham 74 England50 Tom Finney 7251 Rivaldo 71 Brazil52 Claudio Caniggia 64 Argentina53 Totao 63 Brazil54 Frank Rijkaard 62 Netherlands55 Jose Luis Chilavert 61 Paraguay56 Kevin Keegan 60 England57 Paul Gascoigne 5758 Roger Milla 56 Cameroon59 Michael Laudrup 55 Denmark60 Andril Shevchenko 54 Ukraine=61 David Ginola 53 FranceGlenn Hoddle EnglandSocrates Brazil=64 Roberto Carlos 52 BrazilAlan Shearer England66 Daniel Passarella 51 Argentina67 Davor Suker 50 Croatia=68 Dixie Dean 49 EnglandSandor Kocsis HungaryJuan Alberto Schiaffino Uruguay, ItalyPlayer National Team[s]Christian Vieri Italy=72 Mario Kempes 47 ArgentinaJohan Neeskens NetherlandsLuigi Riva Italy=75 Jose Nasazzi 46 UruguayGunter Netzer West Germany=77 Alessandro Del Piero 43 ItalyCarlos Valderrama Colombia79 Ricardo Zamora 42 Spain80 Enzo Francescoli 41 Uruguay=81 Edgar Davids 40 NetherlandsFrancisco Gento Spain=83 Jim Baxter 38 ScotlandFalcao BrazilRyan Giggs WalesSepp Maier West Germany=87 Zbigniew Boniek 37 PolandPat Jennings Northern IrelandGyorgy Sarosi Hungary90 Giacinto Facchetti 36 Italy=91 Alan Hansen 34 ScotlandRaymond Kopa FranceBryan Robson EnglandMatthias Sammer Germany=95 Ladislav Kubala 33 Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Spain