The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has announced its first phase of 48 World football legend players. Our own Kano Nwaknwo was amongst the few Africans who made the cut.
See the complete List below
48 Football Legend Players, Phase One:
(Playing Position / Name / Country)
- Forward / Edson Arantes Do Nascimento (PELE) / Brazil
- Midfielder / Arthur Antunes Coimbra (Zico) / Brazil
- Midfielder / Manuel Francisco dos Santos (Garrincha) LATE / Brazil
- Forward / Ronaldo Luís Nazário De Lima (Ronaldo) / Brazil
- Defender, Sweeper / Franz Anton Beckenbauer (Beckenbauer) / Germany
- Forward / GERD MÜLLER (Gerd) / Germany
- Defender, Midfielder / Lothar Matthäus / Germany
- Forward, Midfielder / Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Johan Cruyff) / Netherlands
- Forward / Marco Van Basten (Marco) / Netherlands
- Forward, Midfielder / Ruud Gullit OON / Netherlands
- Forward, Midfielder / Bobby Charlton (Bobby) / United Kingdom
- Midfielder / David Robert Joseph Beckham (David Beckham) / United Kingdom
- Forward / STANLEY MATTHEWS LATE / United Kingdom
- Midfielder / Diego Armando Maradona Franco (Maradona) / Argentina
- Forward / Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé LATE / Argentina
- Forward / HAO HAIDONG / China
- Defender / Sun Jihai / China
- Forward / Mahmoud El-Khatib (Bibo) / Egypt
- Midfielder / Mohamed Aboutrika / Egypt
- Midfielder / Michel Platini / France
- Midfielder / Zinedine Yazid Zidane (Zizou) / France
- Goalkeeper / Antonio Carbajal (Tota) / Mexico
- Forward / Hugo Sánchez Márquez (Sánchez) / Mexico
- Forward / Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (Eusébio) / Portugal
- Midfielder / Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (Luis Figo) / Portugal
- Goalkeeper / Dino Zoff / Italy
- Forward, Midfielder / Roberto Baggio / Italy
- Striker / Mustapha Rabah Madjer (Rabah Madjer) / Algeria
- Forward / Albert Roger Mooh Miller (Roger Milla) / Cameroon
- Forward / Ferenc Puskás LATE / Hungary
- Forward / Baichung Bhutia (Bhutia) / India
- Forward / Ali Daei / Iran
- Midfielder / Hidetoshi Nakata / Japan
- Striker / Cha Bum-kun (Tscha Bum) / South Korea
- Striker / Jasem Yaqoub Sultan Al-Besara / Kuwait
- Forward / George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (George Weah) / Liberia
- Forward / Wynton Alan Whai Rufer / New Zealand
- Forward / Nwankwo Kanu / Nigeria
- Goalkeeper /José Luis Félix Chilavert González (José Luis Chilavert) / Paraguay
- Goalkeeper / Lev Ivanovich Yashin (Lev Yashin) LATE / Russia
- Forward / Majed Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mohammed (Majed Abdullah) / Saudi Arabia
- Forward / Francisco Gento Lopez (Paco) / Spain
- Forward / Hakan Şükür / Turkey
- Forward / Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin / Ukraine
- Inside forward / Juan Alberto Schiaffino Villano (Pepe) LATE / Uruguay
- Forward, Midfielder / Landon Timothy Donovan / USA
- Defender / Lucas Valeriu Ntuba Radebe (Lucas Radebe) / South Africa
- Midfielder / Ryan Joseph Giggs (Ryan Giggs) / Wales