An XI of top footballers of African descent

Many football teams have benefitted from immigration. The most notable example of this is the French national team - both past and present. The current French team is full of talented players and many top players often find themselves out of the national team setup due to the competition for places.

Some of the major names in the current team who are of African descent include Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Kurt Zouma, Samuel Umtiti, Blaise Matuidi and Nabil Fekir. There are numerous other players as well, all of them talented.

There were several players of African descent in the French team that won the FIFA World Cup and Euro in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Today, some of Europe’s best teams like Portugal and Belgium are also this good thanks to the numerous players of African origin in their ranks. In such a scenario, it is noteworthy to make an XI of some of the best players of African origin comprising of both present and past players.

Note: This list is not definitive or exhaustive, there are numerous players of African origin playing for their adopted country like France, Belgium and Portugal.

Goalkeeper: Steve Mandanda

Steve Mandanda has served as an understudy to Hugo Lloris for many years

The only position in this lineup without a lot of competition and hence, Marseille’s Steve Mandanda is our goalkeeper.

Mandanda was born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1985 but he migrated to France at a young age and started his career with Le Havre. His notable stint in club career was with Olympique Marseille between 2007 and 2016 where he made 441 appearances winning the league title once.

He made his debut for France in 2008 and has gone on to make 24 appearances despite being backup to Hugo Lloris.

Steve Mandanda has three younger brothers, all of them goalkeepers and his first brother Parfait Mandanda has represented DR Congo 17 times.

Defence

Bayern's Boateng and Alaba could have played for African nations

Bacary Sagna

Sagna was born in France to Senegalese parents and aged 17, he wished to play for the Senegal team but they didn’t reply. Later, he went on to star for Auxerre and that prompted Senegal to approach him. However, he had already represented France up to the U-21 level and had his mind made up.

The former Arsenal and Manchester City star has represented France 65 times.

Marcel Desailly:

Desailly was born in Accra, Ghana. His mother married the head of the French Consulate in Accra who adopted all of her children and relocated them to France. Despite his Ghanaian roots, Desailly has maintained that he has never wanted to represent a country other than France.

He was an important member of the France team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000 and also the captain of the 2001 Confederations Cup winning team.

Jerome Boateng

Jerome was born to a German mother and a Ghanaian father in Berlin. He has never been to Ghana but was eligible to play for Ghana because of his father.

His half-brother, Kevin-Prince Boateng, was also born in Berlin, but he chose to play for Ghana.

David Alaba

David Alaba is the youngest player to represent Austria and also the winner of the Austrian footballer of the year a record six times despite being just 25 years old!

Alaba was eligible to play for Nigeria through his father, who is from that country. His father is a prince from Ogere, is a rapper and also works as a DJ. His mother emigrated from the Philippines to Austria to work as a nurse before his birth and Alaba went on to play for his country of birth.

Midfield

Claude Makelele:

When a particular position on the football field is often referred to using a player’s name, it is hard to exclude him. Makelele redefined the modern day defensive midfield role and has played for top clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea and PSG.

He was born in Zaire but moved to France when he was four years old. Unlike his father who played for DR Congo on the international stage, Makelele chose to play for France and he represented them 71 times.

Zinedine Zidane:

This man needs to introduction. If you don’t know him as one of the greatest footballers of all time, you surely know him as the successful manager of Real Madrid.

Zidane was born in France but his parents are of Algerian descent and they emigrated to France in 1953 before the start of the Algerian war. The current Real Madrid manager played 108 games for France scoring 31 goals and also winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000.

Paul Pogba:

For almost a year, Paul Pogba was the world’s most expensive player following his £89m move in 2016. Aged just 24, he already considered one of the best midfielders on the planet.

Paul was born in France to Guinean parents but he chose to play for France. However, his brothers, Florentin and Mathias have represented Guinea on the international stage.

Dele Alli:

England’s biggest talent in recent years, Dele Alli, was born to a Nigerian father and an English mother in England.

Alli was eligible to play for Nigeria because of his father and Nigeria were interested in calling him up. However, his impressive debut season for Spurs earned him a callup to England and he has gone on to represent the Three Lions 20 times already.

Forwards

Benzema chose to play for France but he was ousted from the team two years ago

Karim Benzema:

Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema was born to French nationals of Algerian descent. His grandfather was an Algerian who migrated to Lyon in 1950s and this made Benzema eligible to play for Algeria just like his manager Zinedine Zidane.

He was approached by Algeria to play for them internationally in 2006 but he turned down the offer to play for France which he did a year later. He has been capped 81 times scoring 27 goals but hasn’t played for France since 2015 following allegations of blackmailing his national teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku was born in Belgium to Congolese parents. His father was a professional footballer who was capped internationally by the country formerly known as Zaire.

Aged just 24, he has already scored 24 goals for Belgium and just needs 7 more goals to become the country’s all time leading goalscorer.

The team will line up in a 4-3-1-2 Diamond formation

Edited by Anuradha Santhanam