World Team of the 20th Century
The World Team of the 20th Century or MasterCard 20th Century team was chosen in 1998 to honour the best association football players of the 20th century. The team was consisted of an eleven-member side, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards.
History
The team was announced on 10 June 1998, in conjunction with the opening ceremonies of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. The team was selected in plurality voting undertaken by a panel of 250 international football journalists from amongst the members of eleven-member sides styled as the South American and European Teams of the 20th Century. Those two continental selections were announced a month earlier by the same panel, featuring players who represented national teams of the CONMEBOL and UEFA confederations and would be the pool for the World selection. That meant that no player from outside Europe or South America was eligible for selection for the World Team.Selection teams for players from the nations of CONCACAF, the Confederation of African Football, and collectively the Asian and Oceania Football Confederations were also chosen by separate, smaller juries of journalists situated respectively in North and Central America, Africa, and Asia and Oceania. They were announced alongside the European and South American teams, but players selected to the former sides were not considered for selection to the world team.
The continental selection All the team selections were sponsored by MasterCard and announced on 15 May 1998.
Continental selections
FIFA also published the best XIs of the Century for CONCACAF, UEFA, Africa and the Asian and Oceania Football Confederations. MasterCard sponsored the team selections which were announced on 15 May 1998. The first two selections worked as the pool for choosing the World's Best Eleven.World selection
The formation chosen was 4–3–3.| Position | Player | National side represented by year | Professional club represented by year | Rank on the FIFA Magazine and Grand Jury enumeration of the top FIFA players of the 20th century | Continental, FIFA World Cup, IFFHS, and FIFA awards |
| Goalkeeper | Lev Yashin |  |