TheCable

Kanu Nwankwo, ‎Nigerian soccer Icon, has been named as one of the 48 legends in the history of world football.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) released the list on Monday.

‎This is one of the biggest recognition for the ex-Arsenal striker.

‎Kanu made history by leading the Nigerian U-23 team to gold medal at the 1996 Olympic games.

As a teenager, he was a key member of the Ajax team that dominated Europe and won the UEFA cup.

He went on to score some amazing goals for Arsenal FC and celebrated the exemplary “unbeaten run” with the team.

Kanu has won ‎three FA cup medals and two African Player of the Year‎ ‎awards.

Below is the list of the best-ever and most celebrated football players of all times:

• Edson Arantes Do Nascimento (PELE) of Brazil
  Arthur Antunes Coimbra (Zico) of Brazil
  ‎Late Manuel Francisco dos Santos (Garrincha) of Brazil
  Ronaldo Luís Nazário De Lima (Ronaldo) of Brazil
  Franz Anton Beckenbauer (Beckenbauer) of Germany
  GERD MÜLLER (Gerd) of Germany
  Lothar Matthäus of Germany
  Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Johan Cruyff) of Netherlands
  Marco Van Basten (Marco) of Netherlands
  Ruud Gullit OON of Netherlands
  Bobby Charlton (Bobby) of United Kingdom
  David Robert Joseph Beckham (David Beckham) of United Kingdom
  Late STANLEY MATTHEWS of United Kingdom
  Diego Armando Maradona Franco (Maradona) of Argentina ‎Late Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé of Argentina
  HAO HAIDONG of China
  Sun Jihai of China
  Mahmoud El-Khatib (Bibo) of Egypt
  Mohamed Aboutrika of Egypt
  Michel Platini of France
  Zinedine Yazid Zidane (Zizou) of France
  Antonio Carbajal (Tota) of Mexico
  Hugo Sánchez Márquez (Sánchez) of Mexico
  Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (Eusébio) of Portugal
  Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (Luis Figo) of Portugal
  Dino Zoff of Italy
  Roberto Baggio of Italy
  Mustapha Rabah Madjer (Rabah Madjer) of Algeria
  Albert Roger Mooh Miller (Roger Milla) of Cameroon
  Late Ferenc Puskás of Hungary
  Baichung Bhutia (Bhutia) of India
  Ali Daei of Iran
  Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan
  Cha Bum-kun (Tscha Bum) of South Korea
  Jasem Yaqoub Sultan Al-Besara of Kuwait
  George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (George Weah) of Liberia
  Wynton Alan Whai Rufer of New Zealand
  Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria
  José Luis Félix Chilavert González (José Luis Chilavert) of Paraguay
  Late Lev Ivanovich Yashin (Lev Yashin) of Russia
  Majed Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mohammed (Majed Abdullah) of Saudi Arabia
  Francisco Gento Lopez (Paco) of Spain
  Tanju Çolak of Turkey
  Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin of Ukraine
  Late Juan Alberto Schiaffino Villano (Pepe) of Uruguay
  Landon Timothy Donovan of USA
  Lucas Valeriu Ntuba Radebe (Lucas Radebe) of South Africa
  Ryan Joseph Giggs (Ryan Giggs) of Wales