Pele picks his top 100

Pele: has picked his top 100 players

14 April 2012

Seven England stars have been named by Pele in his list of the 100 greatest living footballers in the world.

Modern heroes like David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Michael Owen are preferred to Sir Geoff Hurst, the man whose hat-trick against West Germany ensured England's World Cup triumph.

They join former stars Gary Lineker, Kevin Keegan, Bobby Charlton and Gordon Banks as "the best, most outstanding, creative players of their generation".

More than 20 of those in the list, revealed by world governing body Fifa today, have played or are playing in the Premiership.

Four Arsenal stars, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira are named, as are three of Chelsea's foreign brigade in Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron and Marcel Desailly.

Manchester United's Roy Keane and Ruud Van Nistelrooy are also included.

But, in keeping with the diplomatic role he has adopted as an international ambassador for football, Pele stopped short of ranking his top 100 by ability - preferring instead to publish the list in alphabetical order.

Many great names from the past are omitted from the list, including 1966 England captain Bobby Moore. This is because Pele picked players still alive today - with the emotional exception of Marc Vivien Foe, the Manchester City and Cameroon player who collapsed and died during a match last year.