The Universal Genius of World Football
(Top Player & Coach & Official)

 There is a gap between the greatest football honours bestowed each year by FIFA and the century awards for the six football continents and for the world. The IFFHS, which has already made great strides in conducting polls for the century awards and presenting the awards to the successful players, intends to fill this vacuum. Over several years only very few individuals can expect to receive such an exceptional and universal award.

The prerequisites for such an universal award are:
- During his active career, a footballer must have demonstrated total world class both at club level and in the national team, shown creativity on the pitch and been successful by any standard.
- He must also have been successful at the highest international level as the coach of a club and/or national team and shown similar creativity and brilliance there.
- Finally, he must also have been successful at the highest international level as an official and contributed ground-breaking ideas to world football.

So far, IFFHS has selected individuals who were outstanding in all three fields

 
The Universal Genius of World Football
(Top Player & Coach & Official)
Universal Genie des Welt-Fussballs
(Top Spieler & Trainer & Funktionär)
Genio universal del fútbol mundial
(Top Jugador, Entrenador y Directivo)
Genie universel du football mondial
(Top Joueur & Entraîneur & Fonctionnaire)
by IFFHS

2007:  Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)