5 March 2004
London — WORLD'S football governing body, FIFA, yesterday named Nigeria's Austin Okocha as one of the 100 greatest living players alongside Brazil's Pele, Argentina's Maradona, England's David Beckham and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer. Okocha is the only Nigerian so recognised.
Other Africans on the list are Cameroon's Roger Milla, Ghana's Abedi Pele, Liberia's George Weah, Senegal's El Hadj Diouf. Five-times World Cup winners, Brazil, beat old rivals, France and Italy, by having more players than any other country on the FIFA list.
The FIFA 100 list, drawn up under the supervision of Brazilian legend, Pele, as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations, actually went to 125 players.
Fifteen of them were from Brazil, including Pele himself, while Italy and France tied for second place with 14 representatives each. Next came Holland (13), Argentina and Germany (10 each) and England (7).
European and Latin American players dominated predictably but Asia's emergence was represented by the presence of Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata and South Korea's Hong Mung-bo on the list.
Two women ensured the United States had a presence -- Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers. But there was no place on the list for Sun Wen, the former captain of the Chinese women's team who would have been the world's most populous nation's best chance of inclusion.
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