#1 Jay-Jay Okocha
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Augustine Azuka “Jay-Jay” Okocha, who played as an attacking midfielder, is widely regarded as not just the best Nigerian player, but the best African player of all time. Famous for his creativity and dribbling skills, Okocha was a master of the step-over.
Jay-Jay enjoyed a respectful career which was spread over several European nations such as Germany, England and France. He spent 6 years in Germany, appearing 35 times for Borussia Neunkirchen and 90 times for Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 16 and 30 goals for them respectively.
He then moved to France and appeared 84 times for Paris Saint-German where he scored 23 goals.
In 2002, a move to Bolton Wanderers saw him spend four years in England, appearing 124 times and scoring 14. He then moved to Qatar for a year before moving back to England to play for Hull City where he eventually ended his career.
Okocha is one of Nigeria’s most loved footballers of all time and is now keen on becoming the president of the Nigeria Football Federation.
Honourable Mentions
Here are a few names that didn’t make our list, but are undoubtedly huge names that came from Nigeria to go on to achieve great feats with European clubs:
Sunday Oliseh
Sunday Ogorchukwu is a Nigerian football manager and former player. In his time, the Nigerian played for a plethora of European clubs like Ajax, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund amongst others. He was a defensive midfielder who played a total of 321 matches in his club career. He is currently the coach of Dutch side Fortuna Sittard.
Victor Moses
Moses is a young, active Nigerian talent who plies his trade for English league champions Chelsea as a wing-back. Before moving to the Blues, Moses spent three years at Crystal Palace and two years at Wigan Athletic before he was bought by Chelsea and subsequently loaned out to Liverpool, West Ham United and Stoke City for a season apiece.
He then returned to Chelsea and helped them lift the Premier League trophy in the 2016-17 season.
