African footballers had important roles in the sport’s history, showing amazing skills and being the main players of some of the biggest clubs in Europe and also winning important titles with their National Teams.
Today we prepared a list with the top 5 African players of all time. Don’t forget to give your opinion at the end of the article and send comments. And also, if you want to know more about African football, click here.
5th place – Jay-Jay Okocha
Country: Nigeria
Period: 1990-2008
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Clubs: Borussia Neunkirchen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain, Bolton Wanderers, Qatar SC, Hull City
Titles: 1x Olympic Games, 1x African Cup of Nations, 1x French Super Cup
Jay-Jay Okocha certainly has a special role in the history of African football. Attacking midfielder of extreme skill and creativity, he had speed and dribbling as his main attributes. He played for several major clubs in Europe like Eintracht Frankfurt, from Germany, Paris Saint-Germain, from France, and Bolton Wanderers, from England.By the way, if you want to know german league predictions, you need to monitor the news.
He is considered the best Nigerian in football. In the 1990s, he was responsible for leading the team to the unprecedented qualification for the final stage of 1994’s World Cup, the African Nations Cup title that same year and the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics.
4th place – Roger Milla
Country: Cameroon
Period: 1970-1996
Position: Center Forward
Clubs: Léopard Douala, Tonnerre, Valenciennes, Monaco, Bastia, Saint-Étienne, Montpellier, Saint-Pierroise, Tonnerre, Pelita Jaya, Putra Samarinda
Titles: 2x African Cup of Nations, 2x French Cup
Honors: 2x African of the Year
Charisma, friendliness and lots of dancing: Roger Milla was one of the best African players of all time! It is interesting to note that the Cameroonian striker lived his peak late, already with 38 years on his back. Something unusual about football.
The top scorer accumulated interesting passages in the French Championship, but it was in the national team that he made history. He led Cameroon to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup, becoming the first African country to get that far in a World Cup, and also got two African Cup of Nations trophies. On individual level, he was the African of the Year twice.
3rd place – Samuel Eto’o
Country: Cameroon
Period: 1997-2019
Position: Center Forward
Clubs: Real Madrid, Leganés, Espanyol, Mallorca, Barcelona, Internazionale, Anzhi Makhachkala, Chelsea, Everton, Sampdoria, Antalyaspor, Konyaspor, Qatar FC
Titles: 1x Olympic Games, 2x African Nations Cup, 3x Champions League, 1x Club World Cup, 3x La Liga, 1x Serie A, 2x King’s Cup, 2x Italian Cup, 2x Spanish Super Cup, 1x Italian Super Cup
Honors: 4x African of the Year
Our bronze medal is very safe in the hands of Samuel Eto’o. From the list, he is the athlete with the most expressive titles conquered in his career. He was the only player in history to win the triple European crown for two different teams in consecutive seasons!
For Barcelona, he won the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rei in 2008-09. The following season, with Inter Milan, he raised the UCL trophy once again, this time stacking the Serie A and the Italian Cup. One of the best finishers the football world has ever seen and one of the biggest names of the sport!
2nd place – Abedi Pele
Country: Ghana
Period: 1980-2000
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Clubs: Real Tamale United, Al Sadd, Zürich, Dragons l’Ouémé, Niort, Mulhouse, Olympique de Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Torino, 1860 Munich, Al Ain
Titles: 1x African Cup of Nations, 1x Champions League, 2x Ligue 1
Honors: 3x African of the Year
Abedi Pele has his little place of honor on our list of the best African players in history. Playing as an attacking midfielder, he was an extremely important offensive piece in the unprecedented title of Olympique de Marseille in the 1993 Champions League. Until nowadays, it was the only French club to be able to lift the UCL trophy.
The “Maestro” was fast, skilled and an expert dribbler. He was captain of Ghana and became his country’s third top scorer with a total of 33 goals in 67 matches. He led the country to the first place in the African Cup of Nations in 1992 and was elected the main player of the competition.
1st place – George Weah
Country: Liberia
Period: 1985-2003
Position: Center Forward
Clubs: Bong Range United, Mighty Barrolle, Invincible Eleven, Africa Sports, Tonnerre Yaoundé, Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, Milan, Chelsea, Manchester City, Olympique de Marseille, Al Jazira
Titles: 2x Serie A, 1x Ligue 1, 3x French Cup, 1x English Cup, 1x French League Cup
Honors: 2x African of the Year
For us, George Weah wins the gold medal as the best Africa that has already played football – mainly because he was the only representative of the continent to take the award for best player in the world in history. The feat took place in 1995, during his time at the Italian club AC Milan.
The Liberian athlete was one of the most lethal strikers in the world in the early 1990s. He became a top scorer in the UCL, entered the Rossoneri hall of fame, accumulated several national titles and is now the country’s current president. Can you believe it? Certainly the best and most important African footballer of all time.
Conclusion
Some people probably won’t agree with some names, as many of them are old and it is possible that many people didn’t see them playing during their best. However, these are the best African players of all time, not the ones that still play. You can find out more about the Premier League and bets on the website MightyTips.
What do you think about the list? Would you change anyone? Tell us about your opinion and who are your top 5 best African Players of All Time.
