Top 10 African Footballers Of All Time

There have been some great players to come out from this continent. Players that went on to become household names and project African Football and African Footballers to greater heights. This is a list of the top 10 footballers from this continent.

There have been some great African Footballers been part of great club and national teams in football history.

Others became household names for their club sides and continue to be held in high esteem.

The list below is the Top 10 African Footballers Of All Time .

10. Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)

The Ghanaian International holds the record for the African with most goals at the FIFA World Cup, with 6 goals. Asamoah Gyan has enjoyed an awesome 17 year career with the Ghana Black Stars , where he led the team to the semi finals on 5 occasions, reaching the finals on two of those occasions but falling short. He is truly one of the greats in African football.

9. Austin Jay Jay Okocha (Nigeria)

The epitome of skill and trickery. Jay Jay Okocha in his prime could go past every player on the team at ease. He won two BBC African player of the year awards and was a key figure in Nigeria’s 1994 AFCON winning side and their 1996 Olympic gold medal winning team.

8. Mohammed Aboutrika (Egypt)

Perhaps the greatest Egyptian footballer of all time, Mohammed Aboutrika won 3 AFCON titles in a row, in 2006,2008 and 2010. He was also the backbone of a very successful Al Ahly side that won multiple Egyptian league titles and African Champions League titles.

7. Essam El-Hadary (Egypt)

A veteran goalkeeper and probably the most decorated one in AFCON history. Essam El- Hadary won a 4 AFCON titles with Egypt and multiple champions league titles with Al Ahly. In his prime, he was the best goalkeeper on the continent.

6. Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)

Kanu enjoyed a trophy laden career both at club and national team level. He won the champions league with Ajax in 1995 and a year later led Nigeria to Olympic gold at Atalanta 1996. Kanu also won the premier league twice with Arsenal and was a member of their famous invincibles that went the entire 2003/04 premier league season unbeaten.

5. Abedi Ayew Pelé (Ghana)

Arguably the greatest Ghanaian footballer ever, Abedi Pelé made a name for himself at Marseille, when he produced a man of the match performance to guide the French side to UCL victory in the 1993 final. He went on to win 3 more French Ligue Un titles with Marseille. For Ghana, Abedi was part of the squad that won the 1982 AFCON but failed to guide the country to continental success as captain, coming close in 1992 when they lost on penalties to Ivory Coast in the final.

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4. Didier Drogba ( Ivory Coast)

Didier Drogba enjoyed a trophy laden career at Chelsea, where he was instrumental in winning 4 Premier League titles and One Champions league title. He scored over 100 Premier League goals for Chelsea but his 10 goals in 10 finals record shows best how valuable he was to the Blues. He wasn’t that lucky with Ivory Coast, however, as he failed to win two finals with the elephants, losing twice on penalties to Egypt and Zambia in 2006 and 2012 respectively.

3. Yaya Toure ( Ivory Coast)

Yaya Toure dominated African football in the early 2010s, winning the African Footballer of the Year award 4 times in a row between 2011 and 2014. He also led Ivory Coast to AFCON victory as the Elephants ended their 23 year wait for their second AFCON title. In his club career, Yaya was part of the historic Barcelona team of 2009 that won 6 trophies in one year. He also won the English premier league three times with Manchester City.

2. George Oppong Weah (Liberia)

George Oppong Weah remains till this day, the only player from the continent to win the FIFA world player of the year and Ballon d’or award. He was immense fro AC Milan and Monaco in the 1990s and eventually clinched the prize in 1995 along with the African Footballler of the Year award.He won two league titles with Milan and one with PSG. Weah scored over 200 career goals and is now the President of Liberia, after entering into politics ,post retirement.

1. Samuel Eto’o Fils (Cameroon)

Samuel Eto’o remains the only player in history to win back to back trebles in Europe with two different teams. The Cameroonian was unplayable in 2 UCL winning campaigns with Barcelona and established himself as one of the best players in Europe. He has won the African Player of the year award three times and came in third in the 2005 edition of the FIFA player of the year award. For Cameroon, he won the AFCON twice in 2000 and 2002 and also holds the record for the player with most AFCON history. He is as good as great African footballers in history gets.