News: Roy Keane and Thierry Henry are included in the first five names in the top 100 living footballers chosen by Pele to mark FIFA's centenary.

The list of "most influential" players will be made public at a dinner in central London on March 4th, when the players will also receive awards for their contribution to the game.

Five of the players were named yesterday, when details of celebrations to mark FIFA's centenary this year were also revealed. In addition to Keane and Henry, the players named were Roberto Baggio, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and USA women's player Mia Hamm.

There will be widespread interest in whether Pele has included Diego Maradona in the list, given that the two have fallen out over a number of issues and have also been at loggerheads over which of them can claim to be the world's greatest player.

Almost all the 100 players have agreed to attend the dinner, the proceeds of which will help fund FIFA's projects around the world. Organisers refused to reveal yesterday whether Maradona was included in Pele's list and if he had been invited to the dinner.

FIFA has chosen 12 photographers to take the players' pictures, including Lord Lichfield, Martin Parr, Marc Quinn and Helena Christensen. The photographs will be posted on www.the-100.com next month.

The FIFA 100 exhibition will be exhibited at galleries around the world from March 4th, together with an exhibition, "Pele: The Art of the King" on the Brazilian legend, who was chosen by the governing body as the player of the 20th century.

"The leading players are being captured by the world's leading photographers," said a spokesman. "It is a unique project where football meets art."

FIFA was founded in Paris on May 21st, 1904 by seven national associations. The highlight of the centenary year will be a match between France and the world champions Brazil in the Stade de France on May 20th.

FIFA's deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, launching the 100th anniversary celebrations, told a news conference: "Football reaches the heart of everyone and this universality of the game touches more than just sport. It reaches politics, culture, economics, society, every walk of life."

FIFA is also paying "special tribute" to the four British associations by holding meetings in London at the end of this month.

"We want to pay tribute to British football," said Champagne, "because it was the British who formulated the rules of the game and it was the British who exported it around the world."

David Beckham, meanwhile, may be rich already but he looks set to get even richer after the Spanish government decided on a generous tax cut for, among others, foreign footballers.

According to a report in La Vanguardia newspaper yesterday Beckham, whose salary at Real Madrid is rumoured to be worth £100,000 a week, will see his Spanish tax bill cut from 45 per cent to 25 per cent.

The England captain would benefit from a new law designed in principle to save senior executives from foreign companies paying Spanish-sized income tax. The measure will also apply to footballers and will effectively make foreign players a more attractive proposition for Spanish clubs than their own nationals.

Although sources at the Premier League said they held no fears of a sudden player exodus to La Liga, the prospect of much higher wages is certain to be a temptation.

With many players negotiating on the basis of their net salary bigger clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona will find their already considerable buying power on the international market boosted.

"Clubs are already working out the amount of money they will save thanks to the new tax on foreigners," La Vanguardia reported. "The lower the tax bill, then the bigger the saving is for whoever has to pay the gross salary."

Beckham is one of the lucky few who negotiated a wage based on the old tax system only to have the Spanish authorities award him an unexpected rise.

The newspaper also explained that the new measure, which applies to the first five years of earnings, applied to any well-paid foreigner who became a resident in Spain after January 1st this year.

Beckham (28), who joined Real Madrid from Manchester United for £25 million in July, did not become an official resident until last weekend after having lived in the country for six months. Other big earners such as Real's Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo have lived in Spain for too long to benefit.

France Football magazine calculated last year that, with sponsorship included, Beckham was the world's highest-earning footballer with a total income of £10.5 million, ahead of Zidane who made £9.8 million.

Guardian Service