IFFHS all time greatest players ranking:

[dror_khayat]

Here is an interesting all-time greatest players ranking that was made by the IFFHS organization.but I find something very strange here.as you can see here,we can find exactlly how many votes each player got.for example,Pele got 1705 votes,Cryuff got 1303,etc..
but is this really the number of votes they got,or is it a number of points???couse everyone of the first 5 players in this ranking got more than 1200 vote!!! and it seems too much to me.so,what are exactlly the numbers they put along side each of the players mentioned?
here is the article:
"The IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics)
has been organizing elections for the "Football Player of the Century" for
various countries and continents, and separate elections for the "Goal
'Keeper of the Century". Apparently elections were based on polls of
journalists and former players, but no specific details are known.

Players above the dotted lines in the continental elections were eligible
for the worldwide elections.

Players whose country is given in italics were (implicitly) chosen
as the best of their country".



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 Mller (Germany) 265
14.Zico (Brazil) 207
15.Lothar Matthהus (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

can someone explain me that?
thanks...

[Teso Dos Bichos]

No poll? :eek:

[Gregoriak]

but I find something very strange here.as you can see here,we can find exactlly how many votes each player got.for example,Pele got 1705 votes,Cryuff got 1303,etc..
but is this really the number of votes they got,or is it a number of points???

The ranking was done with a points system that was based on votes. Pelé got 1705 points, not votes, etc.

[Ombak]

No poll? :eek:He's trying to figure out how to match up the 50 choices and have a play-off between them or something...

[dror_khayat]

and how many coaches/historians(approximatelly) do you think were included in those votings?

[Gregoriak]

and how many coaches/historians(approximatelly) do you think were included in those votings?

I don't know exact numbers.

To give you an idea about the dimension, each country that participated sent 5 to 50 journalists, coaches etc. A small country had a small number of voters, a big country with a big football tradition had a high number. Brazil for example had over 50 participants. These voters determined which players of their country were deemed worthy for submission to IFFHS's final election list.

[dror_khayat]

Ok,I understand...but I have 2 more questions:

1.do you mean that the coaches and journalists from each country made the decisions only about their own country participantes?

2.who were the poeple who made the final(global) ranking?

3.how/from where do you know in which system that ranking was done?

[Gregoriak]

Before IFFHS worked out the worldwide ranking, they conducted continental polls.

The best placed players in the continental polls were submitted to participate in the worldwide poll. At that stage, all experts that did take part in the continental polls could now vote for players of other continents as well.

The IFFHS published two books about these polls, one called "World Football Gala 1999" and one called "World Football Gala 2000". I have the latter. Both are in German. The 1999 book has detailed explanations on how the rankings were compiled, the 2000 does not go into detail about the proceedings as this was already handled in the 1999 book. That's why I don't know the full story, only bits and pieces. The 1999 book is about the continental rankings while the 2000 book features the world rankings.

[dror_khayat]

so I understand that the experts that did take part in the worldwide poll are the same experts that did take part in the first stage/continental poll.am I right?
and last question for you:what are exactlly those points each of those players got?I mean,points of what?of the number of votes they(the players) got from this poll?of their Football carreers wins?of the titels they have achieved?
I would like you to explain me that,if you can.

[Gregoriak]

so I understand that the experts that did take part in the worldwide poll are the same experts that did take part in the first stage/continental poll.am I right?
and last question for you:what are exactlly those points each of those players got?I mean,points of what?of the number of votes they(the players) got from this poll?of their Football carreers wins?of the titels they have achieved?
I would like you to explain me that,if you can.

As I said the details are explained in the "World Football Gala 1999" book, which I don't have. Thus I can only speculate on how the points totals were calculated, but I assume that each voter sent in a list of players and that the highest ranked got, say, 10 points, the second ranked 9 etc. All this put together by all voters gives the total of points.

And the voters of the World ranking were - as far as I can see it - the same as the continental voters. Maybe some changes here or there, but by and large they should have been the same ones.

87 countries took part in these polls, btw.

[dror_khayat]

earlier you sayed that each country which took part in this poll sent 5-50 journalists/experts,and that coutries with a big Football tradition could send 50,while the small countries could send only 5.but...do you mean that all of the big coutries sent 50,or was it just Brazil?I mean,did coutries with a big Football tradition like Germany,Italy,Holland,Spain and England send also an amount of 50 experts,or just Brazil could?do you know how many experts did Germany send,for example?

[Joanna]

Out of the 50, how many do you actually know?

i think the most i can is 35. heh.

[Caesar]

earlier you sayed that each country which took part in this poll sent 5-50 journalists/experts,and that coutries with a big Football tradition could send 50,while the small countries could send only 5.but...do you mean that all of the big coutries sent 50,or was it just Brazil?I mean,did coutries with a big Football tradition like Germany,Italy,Holland,Spain and England send also an amount of 50 experts,or just Brazil could?do you know how many experts did Germany send,for example? BUY THE **********ING BOOK. HE'S ALREADY SAID HE DOESN'T *********ING KNOW.

God Almighty. Reading a dror_khayat thread has got to be one of the most painful things I've inexplicably repeated subjecting myself to on BigSoccer.

[Excape Goat]

Out of the 50, how many do you actually know?

i think the most i can is 35. heh.

Arsenio Erico is the only player I never heard of. Someone enlight me, please!!! Héctor Scarone I heard of, but I got him confused.

[argentine soccer fan]

Arsenio Erico is the only player I never heard of. Someone enlight me, please!!! Héctor Scarone I heard of, but I got him confused.

http://www.futbolfactory.futbolweb.net/historicos/images/erico.jpg
Arsenio Pastor Erico

Erico was Paraguayan centerforward who played in Argentina in the first decade of profesionalism and remains the highest scorer in the Argentine league. An amazing athlete who as a child was also a circus acrobat. It was said that he not only scored lots of goals, but every goal he scored was spectacular.

Here is what the Ultimate Encyclopedia of soccer by Keir Radnedge has to say about him:

The quality of Erico as a centre-forward is best illustrated by the fact that he was the boyhood hero of none other than Alfredo Di Stefano. Born in Paraguay, Erico went to Buenos Aires at 17 to play for a fund-raising team organized by the Paraguayan red cross during the war with Bolivia. Directors of Independiente were so impressed that immediately after the match they obtained his signature, in exchange for a donation to the Red Cross. Erico started badly, twice breaking an arm, but once he was fully fit he scored goals at a prolific rate and set a record with 47 goals in the 1936-37 league season. Several times he scored five goals in a game, before going home to Paraguay in 1941 after squabbling over terms with Independiente. The club persuaded him to return, but knee cartilage trouble forced his premature retirement in 1944.

Probably the best Paraguayan player ever and a legend in Argentina.

[ChaChaFut]

Arsenio Erico is the only player I never heard of.:eek: :D

I was actually debating between him and Dixie Dean at the al-time draft. Erico is one of those players I never saw play but I've read tons of great things. One of the greatest players in the history of the Argentine league. He was Di Stefano's idol! Writers from the era said he scored incredible goals. He was a complete forward, he could be a penalty area man or he could create from midfield. He is said to have scored a goal after dribbling past 5 defenders in the area. Argentinean writer Juvenal (J. Pascuato) considered him one of the top 5 ball headers ever. He is also known for never attending a game after he retired. "I always preferred to play it, not watch it" he said.