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Football legends unveiled

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Top names such as Dennis Bergkamp, Alan Shearer and Ryan Giggs have made it onto a list of "100 league legends" unveiled by the Football League as part of their centenary celebrations.

Football journalists picked footballers from across the eras to emphasise the League's history but young stars like Michael Owen and David Beckham have missed out.

Other current Premiership stars to make it onto the list are Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams and Peter Schmeichel - while Eric Cantona and John Barnes also feature.

Stars that have been ignored include Jack Charlton, Trevor Brooking, David Seaman, Ian Wright and Peter Beardsley.

The list features 34 players who began playing before World War II including Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton and Sir Stanley Matthews.

Another 37 players who started after the war but had all retired by 1980, including Nat Lofthouse, Billy Wright, Sir Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst and Denis Law.

The remaining 29 players have all played during the 1980s or 1990s, and include George Best, Malcolm McDonald, Peter Shilton, Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle, Kenny Dalglish and Gary Lineker.

Those of the 100 "legends" who can attend will be honoured with a specially commissioned award at a Football League centenary dinner later in the season - the 100th in the history of the Football League.

The Football League chief executive Richard Scudamore said that he thought the list was "almost impossible to better".

Sir Stanley Matthews, who played from 1932 to 1965, said: "I think this is a wonderful initiative and it's great to see so many of my footballing friends and colleagues on the league legends list."

Sir Tom Finney added: "It's a great honour to be nominated as a Football League legend among so many outstanding players."

Other centenary season initiatives include plans for a list of "local heroes" at each of the 72 Football League clubs.

Read the complete list here.

• Your League legends
  

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