Pele walked into a storm of controversy yesterday over his choice of the greatest living players.

The Brazilian legend had been given the task by FIFA of picking 100 for a book of photographs as part of their centenary celebrations, but only managed to whittle the number down to 125, of whom 50 are current players.

But it is the omissions which have proved so controversial, notably Jairzinho and Gerson from the 1970 World Cup-winning Brazil side.

Jairzinho is the only player to have scored in every single round of a World Cup, while Gerson appeared on Brazilian television yesterday and tore up the list in a flamboyant display of outrage.

Roy Keane is the only Republic of Ireland player on the list, with the likes of John Giles and Liam Brady overlooked, while George Best is the only Northern Ireland player included.

At the launch of the list in London Pele was bombarded with questions over his choice. Pele defended himself, saying: "It was very difficult choosing - sometimes you have pain in your heart when you have to leave somebody out.

"Everyone has their own favourite 100 players and I just tried to make as few mistakes as possible. 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."

There are seven English players on the list - Gordon Banks, David Beckham, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, Gary Lineker, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer and just one Scot (Kenny Dalglish). No Welsh players were picked by Pele - neither Ryan Giggs nor Ian Rush made it, and it was confirmed that even had John Charles still been living he would not have figured.

Arsenal have four current players in the list - Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires, as well as Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp - while Manchester United have two in Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The book will go on sale in June. Only seven players will not be pictured. Dutch striker Marco van Basten and former Germany international Uwe Seeler refused to take part, while five could not be contacted: Diego Maradona, Daniel Passarella, Gerd Muller, Ferenc Puskas and Rivelino.