t’s that time of the year again. The time when an open-to-question “Best Players Ever” list that never fails to create some squall and controversy and rub the wrong way off a few people. But, put away the cliché manual. Forget the talk of Africa playing second fiddle to everything good football. It’s time to celebrate the players who have bought the African continent some prestige and eminence!
There is nothing that captures the interest of a football fan more than a round-table debate over who is the finest or the greatest. While many of these contests are inconclusive, open-to-doubt and rarely produce a unanimous verdict among fans, they certainly spawn a great topic of discussion.
But not with who represents the best in the Africa. The 10 Best actually. Throw up the superlatives. Unmatched, consummate, exceptional, unparalleled, unrivaled, peerless. And these players will be deserving of them. Their skill and approach to the beautiful game is incredible, their dominance and ascendancy on and off the pitch is so bewitched to accomplish that often you end up screaming, “How on earth did he do that?”
Here, your Top 10 Greatest Players Ever……
1. George Oppong Weah (Liberia)

For everything good football, George Weah was Africa’s frontiersman!
This list, surely, must be George Weah and nine others. When you’ve got him, it’s his team. Named the greatest African player of all-time, George Weah is the very characterization of footballing myth. In an era when footballers are as often on the front page of newspapers as the back, when they have become as well known for their spendthrift pay packets as their playmaking, when they are more liable to be modeling clothes than muddying them, there is at least one celebrated exception to football’s yob rule – George Weah. A worthy example on how to ball in Africa. He had speed, power and great shooting ability. He terrorized the defenders with his blistering pace and sheer presence. However, Weah served sleepless nights to Serie A defenders not because of his powerful body but because of his tremendous technical ability. He had sudden acceleration, great variation in his dodging ability, unbelievable shooting power and pinpoint accuracy.
Laurels: Won an FA Cup with Chelsea, 2 Serie A titles with AC Milan and the French Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain. Named World Player of the Year in 1995 by FIFA. Won CAF’s Player of the Year 3 times (1989, 1994, 1995), Onze d’Or (Onze Mondial European Footballer of the Year) and Ballon d’Or awards in 1995, UEFA Champions League top scorers (1994-95) and scored 194 goals in his goal-poaching line of business. And here, the pick of the bunch: “African Player of the Century” in 1996.
Stats that surely tell us what our eyes once saw: Weah is Africa’s best.
2. Samuel Eto’o Fils (Cameroon)

Samuel Eto’o, far left, shared the same stage with some of the world’s finest!
There are those that believe Eto’o Fils lives in the world of soccer’s greats on his day. And few with dispute the obvious truth. Fancy trickery and step-overs aren’t in truth his style. Nor is breaching through defences with utter brute muscle. But the one thing African footballer Samuel Eto’o does in good health: score goals. His gift to turn games and never-say-die attitude has lifted the striker to idolatry status in the eyes of the fanatical Cameroonian support. He’s a committed player, whose hunger for goals never gets in the way of his desire to do the best for his team. Eto’o is fast footed and capable of leaving his markers flailing behind him. He possesses a howitzer of a right foot, can link play beautifully and has also learned to hold the ball up more effectively. Thumping drives, delicate chips, jinking runs, audacious back-heels, even the odd header – the Cameroonian had a myriad of ways to find the net. As football became increasingly big business, Eto’o became the African ‘brand’. This attractive, enigmatic figurehead was now a comprehensive superstar, admired by all and feared by opponents.
Club: Mallorca: Copa del Rey (1): 2003, Barcelona (La Liga (3): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, Copa del Rey (1): 2009, Supercopa de España (3): 2005, 2006, UEFA Champions League (2): 2005–06, 2008–09) Internazionale: Serie A (1): 2009–10, Coppa Italia (2): 2010, 2011, Supercoppa Italiana (1): 2010, UEFA Champions League (1): 2009–10, FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2010
Cameroon: African Cup of Nations (2): 2000, 2002, Cameroon Olympic Team, Olympic Gold Medal (1): 2000
Honours: Young African Player of the Year: 2000, African Player of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, FIFPro World XI: 2005, 2006, UEFA Team of the Year: 2005, 2006, African Cup of Nations Top Scorer: 2006, 2008, UEFA Champions League Best Forward: 2006, La Liga Top Scorer: 2006, African Cup of Nations All-Time Top Scorer, RCD Mallorca All-Time Top Scorer, Cameroon All-Time Top Scorer, 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year Third, UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match 2006, FIFA Club World Cup – Golden Ball 2010, CAF Starting XI in the Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2006
3. Abedi Ayew Pele (Ghana)

With Abedi’s every touch, he was hailed as one of the finest to have ever kicked the ball.
Brash. Skilful. Tricky. An uninhibited playmaker. Abedi Ayew Pele stands tall in the annals of football history in Africa. His enormous giving to football growth in Ghana and Africa are insuperable. Throw up an “African Best Player List” out to the watching public and the name Abedi Pele perpetually will make, even, the most elite list. His dexterous skills and elegant athleticism makes him one of Africa’s most successful exports and one of its most fêted sons. The only Ghanaian this far named in Pele’s ‘FIFA 100’ list of the greatest players in history, Ayew’s most important contribution to African football could be as inspiration to the next generations of African footballers that grew up watching him play against the best in the world. He wielded a perfect combination of aggression, passion and off-the-chain skill. His legacy can be seen at the uppermost levels on Europe’s pitches today, weighed down as they are with talent from Africa.People love Abedi because he embodies the soul of the sport rather than the science.
National team: 67 caps (33 goals)
Honours: Africa Cup of Nations winner (1982), Africa Cup of Nations Best Player (1992), African Player of the Year (1991, 1992, 1993), European Champions League winner (1993), French Ligue 1 champion (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992), French Cup winner (1989), Prince of Qatar Cup winner (1983) and UAE Cup winner (1999).
4. Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)

Kanu’s gift to the game earned him audience with greats as seen here with the Queen!
The most decorated player in African football history. That answers it. So, forget the poor lifestyle choices. Forget his health battles. Forget his slow pass of the ball. For years Kanu was the best player in Africa and a remarkable talent. Some of the world’s best defenders, although not admitting it publically, lived in fear of him. One of greatest ever, without doubt. There’s only one Nwankwo Kanu. A legend in his own time, Nwankwo Kanu is both the most successful and most consistent Nigerian international of his generation. He scored spectacular goals, terrorized defenders with his aggression and grit and went over the top when the boots were flying. As a forward he combined brute force and subtle skill to a devastating effect, which made him at his peak the majority of top-flight central defenders’ most-feared opponent. His head was always up, bless his lanky stature. He was constantly surveying the field, looking for his teammates, knew where his nearest opponents were, and you could tell he was always thinking three moves ahead. He had great ball control and his dribbling art in tight quarters was awesome-superb.
Honours: 1993 U-17 FIFA World Cup Winner. African Footballer of the Year: 1996 & 1999. African Cup of Nations : 1994 (Nigeria); Barclays Premier League : 2002, 2004 (Arsenal); Community Shield : 1999, 2000, 2003 (Arsenal); Eredivisie : 1994, 1995, 1996 (Ajax); European Super Cup : 1996 (Ajax); FA Cup : 2002, 2003 (Arsenal), 2008 (Portsmouth); FIFA Club World Cup : 1996 (Ajax); UEFA Champions League : 1995 (Ajax); UEFA Europa League : 1998 (Internazionale)
5. Roger Milla (Cameroon)

Roger Milla hit higher heights and here is seen playing football during the 1Goal launch of the Qatar FA project ‘Education at Your Feet’ at the Wanderers in Illovo.
For most players, the mid-thirties are a time of career flux. Having gone through their apprenticeship and learnt the ropes, thirty-something’s usually become frail components of the clubs and country’s they work for. But for Mr. Milla the reverse is true and the closer he edged to his forties, the more he hogged the limelight and became the poster boy of Cameroonian football. Roger Milla who won the best African footballer of the half century award is often ascribed as the encouragement behind modern African football and without doubt a major actor behind Cameroon’s football success story. The heart, soul and essence of the Cameroon sides of the ’80s and ’90s, Milla went on to be named the African Footballer of the 20th Century. Lofty heights for a man, especially considering that the award was earned based on his achievements after reaching the age of 38! As a player, the pedigree and that enviable bit of class was there, but the muse and inspiration was to come much later; at the end, as a matter of truth. Take a moment to mull over the odds of achieving what he did, despite living in and in lieu of a third world nation on the global stage and you’d arrive at the point where you realize Milla has indeed set the standards. At an age where very few can even lace up their boots for one more match, Milla actually dominated the play in an arena where most, if not all, of his teammates and adversaries were at least 10 years his junior…and that stage was the prevalent and biggest of them all. The memories “Sir” Milla left will take far longer to fade. His performance can only be attributed to passion and desire. To this day, the post-goal merriment of his days of glory in Italy is still mimicked. When a celebrant boogies around the corner flag, think of Mr. Milla. Age catches us all, and the last spiteful twist of fate for Roger Milla was that as his career was in its dusk; his country was emerging as a force to be reckoned with in international football. As his footballing aspirations were rising, his abilities to take dribbles at defenders were fading: but his heroics will be forever celebrated as coming in his final days while he was riding off into the sunset. Some footballers are great goalscorers. Others are scorers of great goals. Roger Milla was both.
Club honours: 1972 and 1973 Cameroon League and Cup Champion. 1975 African Cup Winners Cup. 1980 and 1981 French Cup winner. 1987 French second-division champion

Individual: FIFA 100 Best Players. CAF Best African Player of the last 50 years: 2007. African Footballer of the Year: 1976, 1990. CAF Africa Cup of Nations joint-top scorer: 1984 (four goals), 1986 (four goals). CAF Africa Cup of Nations best player: 1986.
National Honours: CAF Africa Cup of Nations winner: 1984, 1988.

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