14 - 20 December 2000
Issue No.512
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 14 - 20 December 2000 Issue No.512 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Pele, Maradona and Zidane
Diego Maradona walked out of a FIFA awards ceremony before his great rival Pele got up on stage to receive recognition as one of the two greatest players of the 20th century. In what appeared to be a clear snub to the Brazilian, Maradona left the gala event in Rome early after collecting his own prize as the best player of the century as voted by fans on FIFA's official Web site.
A disputed prize for Pele and Maradona over the prize of the best player of the century, but nothing controversial hanging over Zidane
(photos: AFP)
When Pele took the stage to accept a parallel prize based on votes by FIFA officials, journalists and coaches, he was faced with Maradona's empty front row seat. "I would have liked to have had Maradona up here on stage with me but it looks like he's already gone," the great Brazilian said. When pressed, Pele declined to name the Argentine as the best player of the past century while Maradona only named Pele alongside a host of other players.
Pele topped a poll of FIFA's Football Family. He took 72.75 per cent of the vote to 9.75 per cent for Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano and just six per cent for Maradona. Maradona took the Web-based vote with 53.60 per cent to only 18.53 percent for Pele.
The stand-off between the two giants of world soccer came after weeks of rancour over the terms of the FIFA awards. World soccer's governing body initially planned to name just one player of the century and Argentines, spurred by media reports, were convinced Maradona had won it. That outraged Brazilians who argued the terms of the Web-based vote were unfair and claimed the Argentine Football Federation had led a concerted campaign to swing the vote Maradona's way.
Pele seemed little inclined to praise Maradona when he arrived at the gala on Monday. "We're not great friends but I admire him," he said. "If he thinks he's the best player of the century that's his problem."
Choosing the player of the year was far less controversial. By a wide margin, French playmaker Zinedine Zidane won the award on Monday for the second time in his career.
Zidane, winner in 1998 when he inspired France to the World Cup crown, was chosen ahead of Real Madrid's Portuguese midfielder Luis Figo in second and Barcelona's 1999 title holder, Brazilian striker Rivaldo, in third.
AS Roma's Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta was fourth and AC Milan's Ukrainian forward Andriy Shevchenko was fifth.
Zidane, who plays for Juventus, garnered 370 points from 150 national team coaches to Figo's 329 and Rivaldo's 263.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
