British football magazine FourFourTwo (May issue) published a list of the top 100 foreign imports to the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. The top ten imports, in that order, are: Eric Cantona (I won’t fight with that), Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Henrik Larsson (his father, btw, is from the Cape Verde Islands), Gianfranco Zola, Peter Schmeichel, Ossie Ardilles (Bob Marley’s favorite player), Christiano Ronaldo (yeh, I know how did he make it?), Jurgen Klinsman and Patrick Viera (he was born in Senegal). Yeh, fodder for a lot to debate. As for my other preoccupation, a number of African players made the list: three Nigerians (Jay-Jay Okocha at no.43, Nwankwo Kanu at no.91, and Aiyegbeni Yakubu at no.96), 3 Ghanaians (Michael Essien at no.35, Arthur Warton who played at the beginning of the 20th century at no.50, and Leeds United’s Tony Yeboah at no.90), three South Africans (Johnny Hubbard from Glasgow Rangers at no.56, Albert Johannesson who played for Leeds in the 1960s and was the first black player to appear in a FA Cup Final at no.73, and Lucas Radebe from Leeds United at no.82), one Zimbabwean (Bruce Grobbelaar at no. 17) and one Ivorian (Didier Drogba at no.21 who is the top African). South Africa would have had six players on the list (tying it with Australia, and with more representatives than Norway, the USA, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and of course Ghana and Nigeria), but Eddie Firmano (no.14), born in Cape Town, who played at Charlton Athletic, gets counted for Italy, Roy Wegerle (no.44) for the USA, and one of my favorite players Craig Johnson (no.68 ) for Australia. As for the players who did not make it, the feature includes a special mention for Freddie Kanoute who was a dud at Tottenham Hotspur, but became one of Europe’s lethal strikers at Sevilla in Spain and current African Player of the Year, and El Hadj Diouf, who makes the “Top Five Trouble Makers” list along with Sasa Curcic, Emerson, Florin Raducioiu and Hernan Crespo. Must be the weather.
‘The 100 Greatest Foreign Players’ in British Football
May 21, 2008 by Sean Jacobs
I always think of my favourite South African players, Ace Ntsoelengoe and Teenage Dladla, and Lesotho’s Mochini Matete, and wonder how they would have fared internationally.
I need JONH MIKEL OBI’S email address .
i need your email please because i love uuuuuu
i need your number,email and your jersey
Mikel please i need your e-mail address and your mobile number,i love you,you are doing greatly well and at the same making your country nigeria proud.
I need your number and e-mail address.
Didier Drogba am ur fan. i need ur e-mail address and phone no.
Thanks for this out of the list my favorite African players are/where:
1. Didier Drogba
2. Jay-Jay Okocha
3. Nwankwo Kanu
4. Michael Essien