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'I won the people's vote' Maradona stokes feud with Pele over player of century
Updated: Tuesday December 12, 2000 1:09 PM
ROME (Reuters) -- Diego Maradona stoked his feud with his great Brazilian rival Pele on Tuesday by claiming to be the people's player of the century rather than the darling of the football establishment. Maradona and Pele were both named "player of the century" at a glitzy awards ceremony organized by world soccer's governing body FIFA in Rome on Monday night. The Brazilian won the backing of FIFA's "Football Family" -- officials, journalists and coaches -- while the Argentine topped a poll conducted by fans on the association's official Web site. In what appeared to be a clear snub to Pele, Maradona left the gala early after collecting his own prize and before Pele took the stage to collect his. "I would have liked to have had Maradona up here on stage with me, but it looks like he's already gone," Pele said as he gestured towards the Argentine's empty front row seat. Maradona was unrepentant on Tuesday morning. "I had the vote of the people. Pele won by the book," he told reporters, dismissing Brazilian claims that the Web-based poll favored him because it attracted younger voters who had seen him in action and not Pele. "People who say that only young people voted on the Internet, those who didn't see Pele play, forget that children are not orphans," the former Napoli and Boca Juniors star said. "There's always a father who buys the computer and perhaps influences their vote. I won the people's vote and I could not have betrayed the people by refusing to accept the award." Furious debateThe parallel votes have sparked furious debate between Argentines and Brazilians and the stand-off between the two giants of world soccer came after weeks of rancor over the terms of the awards. FIFA initially planned to name just one player of the century and Argentines were convinced Maradona had won it. That outraged Brazilians who argued the Web-based vote was unfair and claimed the Argentine Football Federation had led a concerted campaign to swing the vote Maradona's way. FIFA, anxious to defuse the controversy, then announced on its Web site the award would be for a "player of the decade." It then changed tack again and said the change was due to a typing error. "It [the announcement on the Web site] should have read decades rather than decade," an association spokesman said, implying the terms of the vote never changed. The two FIFA votes were literally polls apart. Pele won a massive 72.75 percent of the Football Family vote to 9.75 percent for Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano and just six percent for Maradona. Maradona took the Web-based vote with 53.60 percent to only 18.53 percent for Pele. When pressed at the awards ceremony, Pele declined to name the Argentine as the best player of the past century. Maradona named Pele only alongside a host of other players -- Di Stefano, France's Michel Platini, Dutch maestro Johan Cruyff and Brazilian striker Rivaldo.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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