Despite most of the concentration labelled on the big European names, one cannot deny the fact that there currently is and have been an array of talents from African soil to have played the beautiful game of football. Truly we’ve witnessed a huge number of outstanding players in the game most especially from Europe, Africa has also produced some really mouth-watering sensations. In this article, we discuss about the ten greatest African football players of all time.
10. RABAH MADJER (ALGERIA)
A pretty unfamiliar name to start this ranking with but “Mustapha” is an all-time great. Widely regarded as the best Algerian footballer ever and was named the outright best of the last century. He is a legend for Portuguese outfit FC Porto as his goal was crucial in the 1987 European Cup final which he helped his side win. This was after he helped Algeria reach their first ever World Cup finals in 1982. Madjer won nine major titles with Porto and scored more than 150 goals.
9. SEYDOU KEITA (MALI)
Keita is an all-time great definitely. His achievement at club level is unmatched by any African midfielder ever. Keita consistently held on to a first team spot in Pep Guardiola’s Barca regarded as the best football team of all time. Keita won three La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, three Supercopa de Espanas and two Champions League, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cup titles during his time in Barcelona. He also won titles at Lorient and Sevilla and netted 78 goals from midfield.
8. ESSAM EL-HADARY (EGYPT)
Yes, a goalkeeper in the list. He’s definitely the greatest goalkeeper Africa produced. El-Hadary won the African Cup of Nations on four occasions, no other player has more. He made the team of the tournament on three occasions and kept a clean sheet in three AFCON finals. He won eight League titles with Al-Merreikh and Al-Ahly. He played 22 years for the Egypt national team, a national hero.
7. JAY-JAY OKOCHA (NIGERIA)
When it comes to pure talent and trickery, no one comes close to Jay-Jay, so good he was named twice. He could dribble an entire team and was a regular in all teams he played for. He won the African Cup of Nations and Olympic Gold with his nation and had numerous individual awards including two BBC African Player of the Year awards.
6. NWANKWO KANU (NIGERIA)
A legend! This man won almost everything and is one of the few players to have won the UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, FA Cup, Olympic Gold medal and UEFA Cup. He also won the Holland Eredivisie at Ajax thrice and was named African Player of the year twice. He’s the greatest Nigerian player of all time and a legend for both Arsenal and Ajax as well as Portsmouth.
5. YAYA TOURE (IVORY COAST)
No much words need to be said about Yaya Toure. The Midfielder could star in anywhere on the pitch, this was why he had a successful period at top level. He’s easily the best midfielder Africa ever produced. He won absolutely everything there is to win while at Barca, then joined Man City where he played a crucial role in giving them the League title. His strength, vision and goal scoring instinct is unmatched. He’s the player with the most African Player of the Year award wins with four honours to his name. A true great.
4. ROGER MILLA (CAMEROON)
Many will say he’s the greatest African Player and that’s a valid argument. He was a beast. Roger Milla netted 438 goals in 794 matches in his professional career. He won the African Player of the Year award twice and also won the Nation’s cup twice for Cameroon. He made World Cup all-star team and was third highest goalscorer in 1990. At 42, Milla became the oldest player ever to play in a World Cup final in 1994.
3. DIDIER DROGBA (IVORY COAST)
A predator in the box. One of Premier League’s greatest strikers ever and definitely a Chelsea Legend. Named African Player of the Year twice and finished top three an astonishing 8 times. Drogba netted over 300 goals in his professional career and won four Premier League titles, four FA Cup, three English League Cups, two Community Shields and one UEFA Champions League title. He’s won the Premier League golden boot and made the Premier League team of the year twice.
2. GEORGE WEAH (LIBERIA)
This guy is the only African Footballer to win the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year after securing both in 1995. He also bagged African Player of the Year on three occasions. He helped PSG win the League title in 1994 before winning two Serie A crowns with AC Milan where he had his most successful spell. Weah scored over 200 goals in his professional career. He’s a huge national hero and is now the President of his nation Liberia. What a man!
1. SAMUEL ETO’O
No doubt about our number one. No footballer from African soil can boast of being greater than Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o. Alongside Yaya Toure, he has won four African Player of the Year awards. He won Olympic Gold in 2000 before helping Cameroon seal the AFCON title on two other occasions. He scored 130 goals for Barcelona where he won the treble in 2008-2009 season. He bagged two UEFA Champions League titles for Barca scoring in both finals. He also won the UCL with Inter Milan in 2010 as well as the FIFA Club World Cup. He made both UEFA and FIFA Teams of the Year twice and was third in the 2005 edition of FIFA World’s best player award. He has a ton of individual awards to his name and played for a great number of top clubs. He’s truly the greatest.
Is there a player that you feel should have made this list? Let us know in the comment section below.
Mustapha Hadji of Morocco
The list is biased by Nigerian players. Abedi Pele was better than Nwankwo Kanu and Jay Jay Okocha. Kanu was the better player of the two. Okocha wasn’t even a complete footballer; he was only entertaining football lovers with his dribbles. There’s nothing more than that.
shout up
Shut up…okocha lead small teams to victory, okocha was at his peak for all his years…he wasnt in a big club dats why he dint achieve more…okocha is d most complete african player of all time, and also d most talented… Pass, Shot, skill, dribble, interception, set piece he had dem all
If so why did he not play in bigger clubs??
I think i will agree with this selection but why is etoo above weah
Great and nice one! But one person is missing and should replace Keita. His name is Thomas Nkono. The only goalkeeper that won African player of the year twice, He deserves to be among the 10 greaest.
And also the great Abedi Pele of Ghana is missing. He is among the Top 3 greatest African players of all time. Etoo, Weah and Abedi in that order.
I totally agree with you. Abedi Ayew Pele who won 3 APOTY among several other achievements at both national and club levels deserves a place in this team. So is the legendary African Cat; Thomas Nkono who was one of the top 3 goalies at Espana 82!
What a wicked world. OmG.. I know is from a Nigerian prospective. How on this Earth
Seydu Keita
Jay Jay okocha
Nwanko Kanu
Out of the list and nowhere near to even top 20 especially Jay Jay Okocha
Mohammed Muhammad Abutrika
Abedi Pele
Salomon Kalu or Thomas Nkono
Should be replacing.. this is disrespectful
Even
Abedi pele should be been in the top 10 considering his achievement in europe and africa.he won the champions league in europe and won the afcon for 2 ocassions .with also 3 african best player awards attached to it….I think he should hv been in the topp 10
Saidu mane and mo sallah are coming
for sure abedi pele sh’d also be included in the top 10
Abedi Pele and Thomas Nkono should replace Seydou Keita and Jay Jay Okocha in that order; sentiments aside.
Biased, there’s no way Great Kali,aka Kalusha Bwalya can miss on this list
Is paul Pogba an african?
He isn’t.. he play for france
Lol, the person who put this together have no idea about Africa football. A Nigerian writer who will never appreciate a Ghanaian footballer. How is Kanu and Okocha mentioned but no Abedi? This is funny! And how did Keita even get a mention among the top 10? The writer must be ashamed of himself
Eusebio. african born. by far d best.
Crap article from a Ghanaian hater, but remember Ghana has achieve success in football than your over populated country, and has produced great players than your country, abedi,yeboah,essien,kuffour,mungtari,kp Boateng,appiah. Shut up Mr writer
An african player wining all the award in one year is the greatest african player. He stood up for Africa and shot the whole world down. His skills couldn’t be cheated. Brought pride to Africa . And to this did no Adrian has done it. He George Weah remains the greatest player. The Goat
I agree with you my dear. There is no doubt about that. He has the skills and strength. I add Okocha after him.
Samuel is Africa most decorated player in so doing he’s the greatest
The list is fine according to me,but you would have made best 11 African players of all time to make it complete.. somehow you over looked at Ghana, Zambian team,and South Africa .These countries also had some talented players.Thanks
I think George M. Weah should be the first on the list.
this list is not complete to rate Etoo above George weah who virtually won all the greatest individual awards which am sure that every football player on planet Earth must be dreaming of with a remarkable record. so why Samuel ETO above weah who has never been named even European best not to even talk world best why?
Where’s kalusha Bwalya, Abedi Ayew, Lakhdar Belloumi, Hossam Hassan, Tarak Dhiab, Jules Bocande, Japhet Ndoram, Bruce Gobrella, Stephen Keshi…
I still believe with all visible seen of no doubt, Austine Jay Jay Okocha remains the best African player of all times, he’s very skillful, throwing accurate passes, creating chances and above all entertainer. The greatest magic player of all times Jay Jay Okocha is the man
Reply
Steven 1 second ago
I still believe with all visible seen of no doubt, Austine Jay Jay Okocha remains the best African player of all times, he’s very skillful, throwing accurate passes, creating chances and above all entertainer. The greatest magic player of all times Jay Jay Okocha is the man
Reply
I agree the list is biased to west Africans , Zambia ,South Africa and Egypt did well too especially kalusha bwalya.mustapha haji did wonders in 1998 World Cup too. Do top 20 at least
SAMUEL ETO’O FILS DESERVE IT HE IS REALLY THE AFRICAN BEST HE HAS MAKE AFRICAN PROUD ❤
In fact i am disappointed in the selection of players. I think you people or whoever did the selection was looking at the achievement of this younger generation of footballers as the yardstick for the selection. I was suprise i did see two greatest players in the selection.The first is the great Abedi Pele of Ghana who won the Afcon with ghan in 1982 at the age of sixteen years. He won many cups with massiele in grace and won african player of the year on three occasions. Second is Kalusha Bwalya who did a lot of greater things in Africa football.
writer of raking is not corrent
I think the selection is right but it’s only for abedi Pele ayew to miss out on the list
But for Okocha case he’s the best most skillful Africa player in history and one of the best in the world. Jay Jay is just unlucky not to have win The Africa player of the year accolade
And you criticism you know that this guy was bereft of winning the award at the peak of his career and giving the award to Samuel etoo
And they manipulate it because Samuel is from Cameroon :i. e from that time can acting president isah hayahtou
Só with this okocha is even more creative than Ronaldinho who even copy some of okocha skills
It baffles me when we compare players by what the clubs they play for won with them. Why? Mind you that even a player that doesn’t play for full ten minutes will still get a medal when the team wins a cup or title. I think in deciding and comparing individual players, their skills with the ball should count; their game changing ability should also count. In as much as I may not effectively prove that Jay Jay is a more complete footballer that Kanu Nwankwo and his likes who have been named severally the African best, I must say that Jay Jay has proved to among the best to me considering his consistency. He was so good that he “resurrects” dying club and make them viable. He saved many clubs from the shame of being perpetual losers. No wonder he is always wanted by clubs that needed a saviour. Thus, anyone who falls into this category should be considered among the best and not those who just won titles with clubs and countries, even when their impact is insignificant in the wins/title won.
Mo Salah and Sadio Mane should form part of this list
Samuel Etoo is the most decorated African player in so doing he deserves the first spot
George weah name should have been the first because in Africa he is the first ever African to carry world best ,European Best and African best in one season.
How on earth would Seidou Keita, Mwanko Kano, Jayjay Okocha, Yahya Toure made top 10 and Abedi Pele, Kalusha Bwalya, Mohammed Aboutrika be missing out?
Your opinion, but try a little consultation prior to going worldwide.
Rating Samuel Eto above George Weah doesn’t make sense at all.
Funny, I just read someone else’s list of the top 100 best players (worldwide) of all time. The only Africans listed were Abedi Plele and Oppong Weah … , and the list did not include Messi or C. Ronaldo! U know such lists are usually subjective so I do not really swallow it hook line and sinker or get my hackles up over them. But the exclusion of Abedi Pele from this list stinks to high heaven. Where have you been?
There have been African players besides who even Abedi Pele and Oppong Weah pale. That was the era when African players had little global exposure. Have you ever heard of Mohammed Ahmed Polo, “the dribbling magician” of “Polo to Polo ” fame? He could have given any in the global top 10 a good run for their money in his days.