Africa’s All-Time Greatest XI
Throughout history, African footballers have provided us with numerous indelible moments that have lived long in the hearts and minds of fans all over the world.
From long range screamers to sublime pieces of skill, memorable celebrations, and mesmeric solo goals, African footballers have done more than their fair share in making football the beautiful game that we all know and love so much.
In honour of black history month, I created my all-time best XI from the African continent. There may be some questionable selections but based on the facts and figures I honestly believe that this is their greatest XI.
The following players have made into my team:
Thomas N’Kono (Cameroon/Goalkeeper)
Little is known about the Cameroonian, which is unfortunate seeing as he is widely regarded as the greatest African keeper of all-time. N’Kono is also seen as a role model by Gianluigi Buffon, who was so inspired by N’Kono’s heroics at the 1990 World Cup that he decided to be a goalkeeper.
He stood out due to his physical attributes such as his speed, aggression, athleticism, and agility as well as his commanding presence in the box and excellent shot-stopping ability. These assets helped him finish second in IFFHS’ African Goalkeeper of the Century Elections.
N’Kono represented Cameroon 63 times and played in three World Cups (1982, 1990, and 1994). He was a key member of the team that reached the quarterfinal of the 1990 World Cup, the first ever African team to do so.
N’Kono also played a pivotal role in Cameroon winning the African Cup of Nations in 1984 and finishing as the runners-up in 1986.
Lauren (Cameroon/Right Back)
One of the most underrated full backs in Premier League history. Lauren is one of the most important players for Arsenal in the Premier League era.
The Cameroonian had big shoes to fill, coming in to replace Lee Dixon, an Arsenal legend, but never let the pressure get to him and rose to the occasion.
Lauren was an old school full back who was very solid, energetic, and aggressive and usually made life exceedingly difficult for left-wingers.
In the seven years that Lauren spent at Arsenal, he helped them win two Premier League titles and three FA Cups. Lauren’s consistency made him one of the unsung heroes in Arsenal’s invincible winning team and was selected in the PFA Team of the Year in 2004.
Lauren also had a good international career with Cameroon, winning two African Cup of Nation titles and Olympic gold in 2000. He was named as the best player in the 2000 African Cup of Nations and was included in the team of the tournament.
Rigobert Song (Cameroon/Centre-Back)
Song aged like fine wine and could probably still put in a solid 90-minute performance for his country. His longevity made him revered not just in Cameroon, but throughout the entire African continent.
Song had fruitless spells at Liverpool and West Ham and did not have a glittering club career like his national teammate, Lauren. Notwithstanding that, he made up for this in his international career.
Remarkably, Song played at a record eight African Cup of Nations and captained The Indomitable Lions in five of them. He was central to their defence which won the tournament in 2000 and 2002 and famously scored the winning penalty against the co-hosts, Nigeria, in the final during a penalty shootout in 2000.
Furthermore, Song played in four World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002, and 2010). In total, he made 137 appearances and holds the record for being the most capped player in Cameroon’s history.
Samuel Kuffour (Ghana/Centre-Back)
Kuffour started regularly for Bayern Munich and made 175 appearances in the Bundesliga. The Ghanaian won the German league six times and 12 domestic titles in total.
Moreover, Kuffour made 60 appearances for Bayern Munich in the Champions League and started in two finals for the Germans.
The Ghanaian is still notorious due to the infamous image of him relentlessly drubbing the ground after Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s 93rd minute winner for Man United in the 1999 final. However, he won the competition two years later.
Kuffour also started for Bayern Munich in the 2001 Intercontinental Cup final against Boca Juniors and scored the winning goal. As a result of his stellar performance in the game, Kuffour was named as the man of the match.
At the international level, Kuffour was crucial for Ghana. He helped them qualify for their first ever World Cup in 2006.
During his glittering career, Kuffour finished as the runner-up in the African Player of the Year awards both in 1999 and 2001.
Kwadwo Asamoah (Ghana/Left Backs)
Asamoah is everything that you would want from a modern-day full back: hardworking, energetic, fast, strong, aggressive, creative, intelligent, and defensively solid.
In the six seasons that Asamoah spent at Juventus, he won a record six consecutive Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia titles, and three Italian Super Cups. His best season was in 2013/14, where he was named in the Serie A Team of the Year and the CAF Team of the Year.
Asamoah was also an important member for Ghana’s national team. He started for the Black Stars in all their games in the 2010 World Cup, where they became the third ever African team in history to reach the quarterfinal. He also played in six African Cup of Nation tournaments and helped Ghana to reach three semi-finals and the final in 2010, where they lost 1–0 to Egypt.
Abedi Pele (Ghana/Centre Midfield)
The ‘African Maradona’ lit up European football during the early 1990’s with his pace, flair, skills, brilliant dribbling, creativity, and goalscoring.
Marseille is where he made himself a household name. Abedi formed a dynamic relationship with Jean-Pierre Papin and Chris Waddle. These three became known as the “Magical Trio” as they terrorised opposition defences all over the continent.
Abedi started for Marseille in the 1991 European Cup final, where they lost on penalties to Red Star Belgrade. However, he then went on to win the competition in its new Champions League format in 1992/93 and subsequently become one of the first ever African players to do so.
Abedi also had a relatively successful international career. In 1992, he helped Ghana reach the African Cup of Nations final, where they lost in a pulsating penalty shootout to Ivory Coast. He also scored 33 goals in 67 appearances for his country and is currently their third highest goal scorer, behind Asamoah Gyan and Kwasi Owusu.
The Ghanaian midfielder was easily one of the best players in the world in his prime and the numerous individual awards that he won are proof of that.
In 1992, Abedi finished in ninth place in the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Abedi also won three consecutive African Player of the Year awards from 1991 to 1993 along with the African Cup of Nations Golden Ball in 1992.
In 2000, Abedi was named as the third best African Player of the Century by IFFHS. In 2011, he finished in fifth place in the Top 30 African Footballers in the last 50 years.
Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast/Centre Midfield)
Yaya Touré was like the school bully who tormented everyone for fun in the playground. In his heyday, he was just monstrous. The footballing equivalent of Francis Ngannou. Just his name alone gave opposition midfielders sleepless nights.
Touré’s low centre of gravity combined with his superb dribbling, towering size, strength, speed, aggression, brilliant passing range, and creativity made him the ideal box-to-box midfielder. He also possessed excellent set pieces, long-range shooting, and goalscoring ability
At his prime, Touré was quite simply unplayable and this was demonstrated in 2013/14. In the 35 league appearances he made, Touré finished as the third-highest goal scorer with 20 goals and made nine assists. Despite being a central midfielder, he managed to outscore Sergio Agüero!
Out of the 2,502 passes that Touré made in the league, 2,205 of them were successful which meant that he had a 90% passing accuracy. In addition, 77% of his set-pieces were successfully converted.
The Ivorian had an illustrious career for both club and country. At Barcelona, he was a member of that historic team that won the sextuple in 2008/09.
Touré’s goals against Man United, in the FA Cup semi-final, and Stoke, in the final, helped City win the competition in 2011, which ultimately ended their 35-year drought without a major title. He was also at the heart of the City midfield that won three Premier League titles and two league cups.
Touré was also a key member of Ivory Coast’s golden generation that made history for the country. He helped them qualify for their first ever World Cup in 2006 and played for them in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Touré also played in three African Cup of Nations finals and won the competition in 2015.
His individual accolades include a record four successive African Footballer of the Year awards and the 2013/14 Man City Player of the Year.
Touré was also in the CAF Team of the Year on seven occasions, the PFA Team of the Year in both 2011/12 and 2013/14 and lastly the 2015 African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament.
Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria/Centre Midfield)
He was so good that they named him twice.
Like a matador in a bull ring, Okocha entertained the crowd and often had them on the edge of their seats in utter amazement with his majestic trickery. His flamboyant skills often left opposition players with egg on their faces. Oliver Kahn, Martin Keown, and Ray Parlour were some of his notable victims.
Okocha had relatively good spells at Fenerbahçe and PSG, where he mentored Ronaldinho. However, it was at Bolton where he made a name for himself.
Okocha singlehandedly dragged Bolton to safety in 2002/03 by constantly scoring winning goals in critical moments towards the end of the season. The following year, Okocha’s sublime free kicks against Liverpool at Anfield and Aston Villa at the Reebok Stadium helped The Trotters reach the League Cup final in 2003/04.
In just three seasons he helped transform Bolton from being relegation strugglers to a top six club that played in the UEFA Cup, which is extraordinary when you look at the current state of the club.
Okocha was also a significant player for Nigeria. He played for the Super Eagles in three World Cups (1994, 1998 & 2002) and helped them win the African Cup of Nations in 1994.
Okocha also scored the equaliser against Cameroon in the 2000 African Cup of Nations final with a magnificent half-volley. However, Nigeria went on to lose the game on penalties.
The Nigerian also led the Super Eagles to Olympic gold in 1996, overcoming the Argentines and Brazilians in both the semi-final and final.
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/Centre Forward)
At his best, he was a thorn in the side of opposition teams. A real nuisance who thrived off irritating them. Very few defenders managed to successfully keep him on a leash because he was such a handful.
His size, strength, speed, physicality, long-range shooting ability, aerial dominance, and finishing made him a major cause for concern for most centre-backs throughout Europe.
Just ask Arsenal fans, they still have painful memories of Drogba constantly cutting their defence to ribbons and putting the ball into the back of their net.
But what was impressive about Drogba was his ability to deliver in big games. He was the ultimate big game player. Whilst playing for Chelsea, Drogba scored 10 goals in 10 finals.
The pinnacle of those goals was in the 2012 Champions League final, where Drogba scored a powerful header to level the score against Bayern Munich in the 88th minute. The Ivorian then went on to score the winning penalty in the shootout, which helped Chelsea win their first ever Champions League title.
Drogba spent nine years in total at Chelsea and helped them win 11 trophies. This included four Premier League titles and four FA Cups. His winning goal in the 2010 FA Cup final helped Chelsea win their first ever League and FA Cup double.
In 2006/07, Drogba scored 20 goals in the league and thus made history by becoming the first ever African to finish as the Premier League top scorer. He also topped the goalscoring charts in 2009/10 with 29 goals.
In total, Drogba scored 164 goals in all competitions for Chelsea and is currently their fourth-highest goal scorer.
Drogba was also incredibly significant for his national team. His goals in the 2006 and 2012 African Cup of Nations put Ivory Coast in the finals. However, they lost both times on penalties.
The Ivorian also helped The Elephants qualify for their first World Cup in 2006 and then featured for them in both the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
The former Chelsea striker certainly was not short of individual achievements. Besides being a two-time African Footballer of the Year, Drogba also won two Premier League Golden Boots, the Onze D’or, and the 2004 Ligue Un Player of the Year.
On six occasions, Drogba finished in the top ten in the FIFA World Player of the Year/Ballon D’or award. His highest finish was fourth place in 2006/07.
Drogba was also included in the African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament on three occasions along with the CAF Team of the Year five times, the 2003/04 Ligue Un Team of the Year, the 2007 UEFA Team of the Year, and the PFA Team of the Year in both 2007 and 2010.
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon/Centre Forward)
Drogba’s long-time rival may not have been as technically gifted; but having said that, he was far more clinical.
Eto’o’s finishing was second to none and it made him one of the most potent strikers in the world. His goalscoring record in his prime was exceptional. Eto’o scored a whopping 130 goals in 199 appearances for Barcelona, which meant that he had an impressive ratio of 1.35 goals per game.
What was also incredible about Eto’o is the fact that he had been in some historic teams. He was in Barcelona’s 2006 team that won the Champions League and La Liga double. He was also in the 2009 team that won the sextuple and incredibly just a year later, he then moved to Serie A and won the treble with Inter Milan!
Eto’o was influential in those successes as he finished as the top goal scorer in La Liga in 2005 and 2006. Those goals helped Barcelona win the title both times. He also scored the equaliser in the 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal and the opening goal in the 2009 final against Man United.
Like many others in this best XI, Eto’o was vital for his national team.
Eto’o was in Cameroon’s team, along with Song and Lauren, that won back-to-back African Cup of Nations titles. In fact, he gave Cameroon the lead in the final against Nigeria in 2000.
Eto’o played in six African Cup of Nations and was the top scorer in the 2006 and 2008 tournaments. He is the highest goal scorer in the competition with 18 goals.
Furthermore, Eto’o represented the Cameroon in four World Cups (1998, 2002, 2010 & 2014) and subsequently became just the third African player in history to do so.
Finally, Eto’o has been named as the African Footballer of the Year four times, which is the joint-most along with Yaya Touré. The Cameroonian also won the Bronze Award in the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year award, the Pichichi Trophy in 2006, and was named as the UEFA Club Forward of the Year in 2006.
He was also named in the CAF Team of the Year six times as well as the ESM Team of the Year four times, the FIFA FIFPro World XI, and the UEFA Team of the Year both in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
George Weah (Liberia/Centre Forward)
Of course, I had to save the best till last.
The “greatest of all-time” is a term that has been overused and abused so much over the years. But when talking about the greatest African footballer of all-time, Weah is exactly that.
Before the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romario, and Thierry Henry, there was Weah. At the height of his career, he was quite simply electrifying. A sight to behold for football fans across Europe.
He struck terror into the hearts of defenders all over the world from the late 1980’s to the mid-1990’s. Weah’s supersonic speed along with his skill, dribbling, creativity, strength, athleticism, and brilliant goalscoring made him the most feared player on the planet.
To date, he is the only African to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award, which he won in 1995. He then finished as the runner-up the following season, losing out to Ronaldo.
The Liberian was also named as the African Footballer of the Year three times, the second most times. Plus, he was named as the IFFHS African Player of the Century in 1996.
Weah’s other accolades include the 1995 UEFA Champions League top scorer and the Onze D’or in the same year.
Long story short, Weah is the best African player that has ever lived. Almost two decades later and he still holds that title and reigns supreme.
Hassan Shehata (Egypt/Manager)
When you think about great African managers, there is no one that can rival Shehata. The Egyptian is cut above the rest.
From 2006 to 2010, Egypt had the entire African continent in the palm of their hands after winning a threepeat of African Cup of Nations titles.
Who masterminded those victories? None other than Shehata. Despite coming up against incredibly arduous opponents in all three finals (Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Ghana) and being unfancied on every occasion, Shehata always led Egypt to glory.
Remarkably, The Pharaohs failed to concede a goal in any of those games even though they were up against the likes of Eto’o, Drogba, and Gyan.
Shehata is the first and only manager to win three African Nations Cup titles in a row. This success led to Egypt reaching as high as ninth place in the FIFA World Rankings in July 2010. By doing this, they became one of just three African countries, along with Nigeria and Morocco, to enter the world’s top ten.
Shehata won the CAF Coach of the Year in 2008. He was ranked as the highest African coach by IFFHS two years later.
With the rise and emergence of players such as Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Riyadh Mahrez, Kalidou Koulibaly, and several others in recent years, it will be interesting to see how far they go in their careers.
Who knows? Some of them could eventually force their way into the greatest African team. However, doing so will be extremely difficult as the players that have been selected in the team have set the bar so astronomically high. I personally feel that they will not enter the continent’s greatest XI, but as we all know anything can happen in football.
