The voting to select the best of the century refers to three categories: male player, goalkeeper and female player, and is obtained from five different steps. The first step was when IFFHS furnished a number of candidates nominated for each country in the three categories, after careful investigation of their performances during the 20th Century.

The second step were the national candidates of each continent, freely selected by local recognized historians, experts and sport journalists. In many countries these special votes were the basis for the decision. It was a condition that the candidates submitted had maintained a high performance level during at least a decade.

The third step  included national candidates from each continent - in three categories (male player, goalkeeper, female player) - listed in such a way that IFFHS could select the number of candidates to be taken into consideration for future voting of the world's best of the century.

It was during the fourth step where the 18 continental votes were decided (3 for each continent). The Jury (comprised by football historians, experts, specialized media) could  cast  votes only  for their own continent. For instance, South American jury member votes were valid only for South America, Europeans for Europeans, etc. Each country had one vote, except the most important football countries in the continent with two votes. The last voting included more than 150 countries, and the Brazilian voting came from 60 recognized specialists.

    The four steps mentioned were recognized in 1998 and the resulting best players and goalkeepers of the six continents were honored during the "World Football Gala 1999".

    In the fifth and last step, were listed the acceptable candidates from each continent, for the best of the world voting in the three categories (male player, goalkeeper, female player). Each country  had one vote for this world wide selection, except the best of the best football countries that had three votes and the second best two votes. The most voted for this "Best of the Century" in the fifth step, were honored during the "World Football Gala 2000" (as well as in the forthcoming events).