Greatest African footballers of all time in no particular order.
A significant number of African players have recently distinguished themselves among players from other nations in European competitions for the 2022-2023 campaign.
Their travels and the astounding and enormous numbers surrounding them have earned them widespread recognition.
There have been numerous famous football players, primarily from Europe, as well as a few African champions.
We have been considering football players from the 20th century, including both African and European players. We chose to evaluate the greatest African footballers in history based on what each player excelled at during their career
George Weah
No one disagreed regarding our finest member. In 1995, George Weah was the first African player to receive the Ballon d’Or. He was named European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year in the same year.
The Liberian won both the FA Cup and Ligue 1 with Chelsea. Additionally, he won two Serie A titles with AC Milan. The IFFHS has deemed him the greatest African player of the 20th century. He has been awarded African Player of the Year twice.
The fact that he is now the president of his nation is another ornament in his headwear.
Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan is the greatest shooter in the history of Ghana. He has tallied 49 goals in nearly 100 games played. Since Tony Yeboah’s departure, he has been the Black Stars’ primary goal scorer.
Gyan is also the African player with the most goals tallied in the annals of the FIFA World Cup, with six. He has participated in three World Cup tournaments. In only 68 seconds, he scored Ghana’s first-ever World Cup goal in 2006 against the Czech Republic in Germany.
Samuel Eto’o
Over the course of five seasons at Camp Nou, Samuel Eto’o scored over 100 goals. He won the Champions League in 2006 and scored in the championship game. He came near to being selected as Africa’s greatest soccer player.
He went on to win another Champions League while Jose Mourinho coached Inter Milan. In 67 matches, he scored 33 goals. A genuine African hero who was dubbed the continent’s greatest player four times, including three times consecutively. With 56 goals in 118 appearances, he is Cameroon’s all-time leading scorer.
Samuel Eto’o is undeniably one of the greatest African footballers to ever exist
Victor Osimhen
Osimhen, a Nigerian striker in Serie A 2022/2023, has scored 16 goals in 17 games this season. Nine of his sixteen goals were achieved at home, while seven came on the road.
Every 90 minutes, Osimhen scores an average of 1.02 goals. In addition, Osimhen has contributed to 19 goals (goals and assists). 1.21 goals are scored every 90 minutes by this player. His unpunished xG is 0.70 every ninety minutes. Osimhen’s 11.02 npxG production places him in the top 99 per cent of all Serie A players.
In 17 games this season in Serie A 2022/2023, Osimhen has taken 52 shots. Only 28 of the 52 bullets were accurate, while the remaining 24 were off target. This implies that Osimhen has a shooting accuracy of 53.85%.
Every 3.25 shots, he scores a goal. He averages 3.32 shots per 90 minutes of play.
This season, he has played 1411 minutes in 17 Serie A outings. When Osimhen is on the field for 90 minutes, he scores an average of 1.02 goals.
Due to his offensive prowess, he is the greatest Serie A player out of the 401 who has played at least three games. This automatically makes him among the greatest African footballers of all time.
Mohammed Salah
The Egyptian forward Salah is currently one of the finest performers in Africa. This season, the Liverpool forward has tallied 17 goals in 31 appearances across all competitions.
The 30-year-old Egyptian has tallied seven goals in 20 Premier League games this season, despite his team’s current decline. Klopp admires the Egyptian as the Reds continue to struggle in the English Premier League.
Didier Drogba
Didier Drogba is the greatest scorer in the history of Ivory Coast. He has tallied 65 goals in over 100 contests. The African Footballer of the Year scored twice as many goals as any other foreign hero for Chelsea.
He is the fourth player to achieve the most goals in the club’s history. He became the first African player to achieve 100 Premier League goals in 2012. The icing on the cake for the large Ivorian was when in the 88th minute of the 2010 UEFA Champions League final, he tied the game against Bayern Munich, forcing extra time. Drogba struck the game-winning goal in the penalty shootout, awarding Chelsea their first Champions League championship.
Yaya Toure
Yaya Toure, nicknamed “The Tall Introvert,” has performed well for both his national team and his club. At the 2015 AFCON, he guided Ivory Coast to victory. Toure has also earned league championships with notable clubs such as FC Barcelona and Manchester City. With the large Spanish team, he won the Champions League. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest African performers of all time.
The maestro was selected African Footballer of the Year four times. Toure was renowned for his muscle, his field vision, and his goal-scoring prowess. During the 2013–14 season, he tallied 20 league goals for Manchester City, which is remarkable for a defensive midfielder.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Choupo-Moting, a Cameroonian forward, did not play a significant role for Bayern Munich last season, but he still contributed to their Bundesliga championship. He participated in 20 games as the Bavarians pursued the championship.
However, there were few indications that he would play so well this season. In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, the veteran was performing well enough to win the Ballon d’Or, perhaps to prove to the club that he deserved a new contract.
According to FootballNews, Choupo-Moting has tallied goals with an unprecedented frequency. For instance, beginning in mid-October, the 33-year-old scored 11 goals in seven consecutive games.
He contributed to victories over Barcelona and Internazionale and scored and assisted in thrilling victories over Freiburg and Mainz 05.
Roger Milla
Roger Milla was the oldest soccer player to compete in the World Cup. He was 42 years old at the time and was regarded as one of the greatest soccer players in Africa, having scored 405 goals. Many assert that he is the greatest African player of all time, which is a controversial assertion.
Over the span of his 794 appearances, Roger Milla scored 438 goals. He is a two-time Cameroon National Cup champion and two-time African Player of the Year. He participated in the 1990 World Cup and tallied the third-most goals. Milla was the player with the most World Cup appearances in 1994.
According to the IFFHS, Milla was the second-best African player of the previous century. Some people acclaim him for his consistency, but he is one of only a handful of Africans to have made a significant and distinctive impact in a World Cup, and his awards support his reputation. The CAF named Milla the African Player of the Century and included him on the FIFA 100 list.
Cameroon’s icon participated in three World Cups and claimed the Cup of Nations. He had the most points in the tournament twice, and in 1986 he was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. In the 1980s, Roger Milla was the greatest soccer player on the continent. Nobody else can say that.
Due to his incredible goal-scoring accomplishments, he transferred from club to club in France and Cameroon. Roger Milla won several trophies, including two French Cups, but never a major league championship. Even though the World Cup altered his life, he has an almost unequalled life expectancy, and he has an incredible goal-scoring record, he lacks the titles to match his scoring record. A few French Cups do not demonstrate his peak ability.
What do you think about our list of the greatest African footballers of all time? If we missed a name let us know in the comment section below.