An XI of top footballers of African descent

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.