The tiny Yorkshire club of Sheffield FC stood side-by-side with Real Madrid to symbolically straddle the century when they were both honoured at the start of FIFA's Centennial Congress on Thursday.
Among others to receive Centennial Order of Merit awards were Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and the former president of the world governing body Joao Havelange, who turned 88 this month.
He received a standing ovation from the 1,500 delegates from 204 member associations on the opening day of the Congress at the
Carousel du Louvre, in the heart of the French capital, situated close to where FIFA was founded by just seven representatives at 229 Rue Saint Honore on May 21, 1904.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who unveiled a plaque at the otherwise unremarkable building on Wednesday, welcomed the French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe to the Congress.
Blatter, who praised French involvement in the development of soccer and FIFA, presented an Order of Merit to Yves Rimet, grandson of former French FIFA president Jules Rimet -- the man credited with inventing the World Cup.
"Robert Guerin, as FIFA's first president, did so much to ensure that FIFA even exists, and Jules Rimet could claim to be the inventor of the World Cup," said Blatter.
"Even if he hadn't shown such vision and persistence, we may have still been here today, but we probably would not have been able to have such a wonderful celebration."
With the more formal business of the Congress taking place on Friday, it was a day for celebration and reminiscences with a song-and-dance show of hits down the years acted out against giant projected photo-montages of soccer images of the day.
FIFA marked the occasion by handing out 10 Centennial Order of Merit awards, with Sheffield Football Club mixing with the world's greats.
Sheffield, the world's first club, were formed on October 24 1857 and are still playing senior amateur football in the north of England.
Their chairman Richard Timms told the delegates:
"This is a great honour -- we are still a very small club but we are still going strong."
He collected his award, standing next to Alfredo di Stefano and Emilio Butragueno of Real Madrid, who, as Madrid FC, were among the seven representatives who formed FIFA in 1904.
They have since won the European Cup a record nine times and were named FIFA's Club of the Century in 1999.
Di Stefano, who played in their first five European Cup finals and is one of the greatest players of all time, said:
"We are deeply honoured and will continue to try and excel in whatever we do".
The only jarring note on an otherwise celebratory occasion came when Roger Milla, collecting an award on behalf of African soccer, said he hoped FIFA would overturn their recent decision to impose a six-point World Cup qualifying penalty on Cameroon for playing in a one-piece kit.
"I hope the sanction will be lifted" said Milla.
"Mr Milla had a diplomatic message to convey," Blatter replied obliquely.
Other awards went to: the fans of South Korea and Japan for their enthusiasm at the 2002 World Cup finals; the International Olympic Committee for its sporting relationship with FIFA; and to Pele and Beckenbauer for their influence in the game.
Uruguay and, posthumously, Jules Rimet were given awards for respectively inventing the World Cup and being the host nation of the first tournament in 1930. Rimet's grandson Yves collected the award on behalf of Rimet, who died aged 83 in 1956.
Pele was unable to attend following recent surgery on a detached retina in his left eye but he praised FIFA on its birthday with a video greeting.