Eight Red Devils were named by Pele. Juan Sebastian Veron, Peter Schmeichel, Sir Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane and George Best are players who have worn the United jersey and were included in the list.

There are some notable exclusions from the list including England's 1966 World Cup hero Geoff Hurst, Peter Shilton and Manchester United great Denis Law. The rules of the list state players must still be living. FIFA believe the players chosen are the "most outstanding, creative players of their generation."

Pele was originally asked to pick a list of 100 players to celebrate the centenary, but has announced that this was to difficult and he was forced to name another 25 players on top of the 100. Two women are included amongst the 125, with American duo Michelle Akers and Mia Hamm surprise entries.

"It was very difficult choosing - sometimes you have pain in your heart when you have to leave somebody out." said Pele.

"They asked me to pick 50 current players and 50 retired players from a shortlist of 300, but I could not manage that so I have picked 50 current and 75 former players."

Below is a list of all the players included in the list, sorted in order of the country they represented at international level:

Argentina:
Alfredo Di Stefano, Daniel Passarella, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, Javier Saviola, Javier Zanetti, Juan Sebastian Veron, Mario Kempes, Omar Sivori

Belgium:
Franky van der Elst, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Jan Cuelemans

Brazil:
Cafu, Carlos Alberto, Djalma Santos, Falcao, Nilton Santos, Junior, Pele, Rivaldo, Rivelino, Roberto Carlos, Romario, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Socrates, Zico

Bulgaria:
Hristo Stoichkov

Cameroon:
Roger Milla

Chile:
Pablo Figueroa, Ivan Zamorano

Colombia:
Carlos Valderrama

Croatia:
Davor Suker

Czech Repbublic:
Josef Masopust, Pavel Nedved

Denmark:
Brian Laudrup, Michael Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel

England:
Alan Shearer, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Gary Lineker, Gordon Banks, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen

France:
David Trezeguet, Didier Deschamps, Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, Just Fontaine, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Marius Tresor, Michel Platini, Patrick Vieira, Raymond Kopa, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane

Germany:
Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaeus, Michael Ballack, Oliver Kahn, Paul Breitner, Sepp Maier, Uwe Seeler

Ghana:
Abedi Pele

Holland:
Clarence Seedorf, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Frank Rijkaard, Johan Neeskens, Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Rene van de Kerkhof, Rob Rensenbrink, Ruud Gullit, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Willie van de Kerkhof

Hungary:
Ferenc Puskas

Repubic of Ireland:
Roy Keane

Italy:
Alessandro Del Piero, Alessandro Nesta, Christian Vieri, Dino Zoff, Francesco Totti, Franco Baresi, Giampiero Boniperti, Giacinto Fachetti, Gianluca Buffon, Gianni Rivera, Giuseppe Bergomi, Paolo Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio

Japan:
Hidetoshi Nakata

Liberia:
George Weah

Mexico:
Hugo Sanchez

Nigeria:
Jay-Jay Okocha

Northern Ireland:
George Best

Paraguay:
Romerito

Peru:
Teofilo Cubillas

Poland:
Zbigniew Boniek

Portugal:
Eusebio, Luis Figo, Rui Costa

Romania:
Gheorghe Hagi

Russia:
Rinat Disayev

Scotland:
Kenny Dalglish

Senegal:
El Hadji Diouf

South Korea:
Hong Myung-Bo

Spain:
Emilio Butragueno, Luis Enrique, Raul

Turkey:
Emre Belozoglu, Rustu Recber

Ukraine:
Andriy Shevchenko

Uruguay:
Enzo Francescoli

United States:
Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm

Contact the Author