Top 10 Greatest African Midfielders


By Joburg Post

10. MUSTAPHA HADJI


Mustapha Hadji, the Morrocan talisman was a match winner on any day. Had  great technical ability. Wonderful passing range with fantastic dribbling skills, and was a firm crowd favourite . He scored one of the most memorable goals at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France an overhead kick against Norway. In the same year he was crowned African Footballer of the year. Hadji spent his best years playing for Nancy in the French Ligue 1 and Sporting in Portugal, as well as Spain with Espanyol and  also featured for Aston Villa in the English Premier League. He had a stellar international career earning 63 caps  with 13 goals with the Atlas Lions.

9. SEYDOU KEITA


Seydou Keita, the Malian captain always calm  and composed under pressure is a veteran of 7 African Cup of nations appearances with over 100 caps and 25 goals. A talented and versatile midfield schemer, who can play in  both defensive  and offensive roles. His lack of success  for his country, is  more than compensated by his well decorated club career notably with Barcelona where he spent four seasons and won 14 titles. It’s at French club, Lens where he spent established himself as one of top midfielders in the game spending 5 seasons as also captaining the club before earning a move to  Sevilla.

8. DOCTOR KHUMALO


Doctor Khumalo, one of the pillars of the 1996 AFCON Victory for Banana bafana. Had it  not been for International isolation, Khumalo could have played for some of the World’s top clubs.  Theres a joke South Africa, that if Khumalo was born in France, he would have been “Zidane”.  It is has some semblance of Truth, talent wise he was in the same class of Zinedine Zidane. Tall,  standing at 6ft3 with amazing technique and quit feet, dazzling skills  and football brain. He had wonderful balance for a big man, and could see a pass. Long before the concept of assists was popular he was a master of those and also scored crucial goals. He played 50 times for South Africa and was instrumental in helping bafana bafana qualify for their maiden FIFA World Cup in 1998.

7. SUNDAY OLISEH


Sunday Oliseh, what a stylish central midfielder he was!  Grace, class and a football brain all in one.  Great technical and physical qualities. Played a starring role when Nigeria won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Oliseh scored one of the great World Cup goals against Spain at the 1994  US World Cup. He had a equally stellar club career turning out for of the Word’s top clubs such Ajax Amsterdam where he spent two years, then spent  a season at Juventus before finding a home at Borussia Dortmund where spent four years.

6. MICHEAL ESSIEN


Michael Essien, became the most expensive African footballer in history in 2005 when he joined Chelsea from Olympique Lyon for 24.4 million pounds. The saying that dynamites come in small packages refers to Essien. In his prime he was  one the best central midfielders in the world. Strong in the tackle, could link up play, a true box to box midfielder and could score memorable goals as well. He won the Chelsea Goal of the season twice in a row. The power in his legs produced missile-like goals. He was also part of the Ghana Black Stars team that qualified for their first ever FIFA World Cup in 2006, then two more World cups in Brazil and South Africa in the process earning 58 caps with 9 goals .

5. GEREMI NJITAP


Geremi Njitap,  a combative central midfielder with power and technique captained the indomitable Lions to the 2000 Sydney Olympics football tournament  gold medal. He also won the AFCON twice  in a row in 2000 and 2002. Geremi also won two UEFA Champions League titles with Real Madrid during his four year spell at the Bernabeu. He had another another successful spell at Chelsea where he spent four years. Comfortable in central as he was at times playing in the right back position, Geremi earned 113 caps in 14 years with the indomitable Lions.

4. YAYA TOURE


Yaya Toure, a true midfield power house with 100 appearances for Cote d’voice and 19 goals before his international retirement. The 4 time African Footballer of the year, also won the AFCON in 2015. Yaya  spent three very successful years at Barcelona featuring 74 times and was part of the All conquering side that won 6 trophies in a calendar year including the  2009 UEFA Champions league where he played as a centre-back in the final. He also featured in three FIFA World Cups for the Elephants. Yaya  a complete footballer with fantastic skills, power and explosive acceleration and eye for goals is still going strong with Manchester city.

3. KALUSHA BWALYA


Kalusha Bwalya, “King Kalu” as he’s affectionately known ,is the closest we have to football royalty on the continent. The 1988 African Football of the year was  a true World Class talent. A skillful midfield general. Could dictate the pace of the game. He had a football Brain. His left foot was  so good, he could afford to have his right foot just for balance. Arguably Zambia’s greatest footballer of all time and a true African great. The sole survivor of what was a known as the KK11 ( nicknamed after the then country’s president Kenneth Kaunda) after the military aircraft carrying the Chipolopolo perished  off the coast of Gabon (  he was not  the plane, had to travel back to Europe). The following year in 1994 he inspired a newly assembled team to the  AFCON final in Tunisia where they lost agonizingly to Nigeria. His greatness on the continent was probably cemented during that tournament. A really big game player, scored a famous hat trick at the 1988 Olympics in a 4-0 win against Italy. Once retired he moved into a Leadership role, as President of the FA he oversaw Zambia’s first continental title in 2012 beating tournament favorites Cote d’voire in the finals. H e also had a great club career with his European adventure starting in top Belgian side Circle Brugge, where he was a top scorer for the club in his first season. He later made his name at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven winning the Championship twice . King Kalu scored 100 goals in 147 Internationals for Chipolopolo.

2. AUSTIN "JAY JAY" OKOCHA


Austin “ jay jay” Okocha, the midfield maestro. he had fun every time he was on the pitch. Played with a smile, he went past players like he was just dancing. He had unbelievable technique and a vast array of skills. A dribbling wizard. He  created and score some outrageous goals  from midfield. He could win a match with one special moment. He inspired Nigeria to the 1996 Olympics football victory as he danced past opponents. He earned 75 caps for the Super Eagles and scored 14 goals. his exploits at the Olympics earned him a big money money to Turkish giants, Fenerbache where he scored 30 goals in 62 matches. French glamour club PSG was his next stop and for four years he dazzled in Paris, and mentored a 20 year old Ronaldinho and they later played together. A true football genius .

1. ABEDI PELE


Abedi Pele, is Africa’s football royalty. The are only two Pele’s in World football. One is the king of World Football, Pele of Brazil ( younger readers would argue that title belongs to Maradona, we are debating that now!) Abedi was crowned the best player on the continent three times in a row, 1991, 1992, 1993.  He came third in the African player of the century voting. The 1992 AFCON winner also won the 1993 European Cup with French giants Olympics Marseille in a game where he was voted man of the match  in the final against the great AC Milan.  He was a complete footballer, a football brain, skillful, great dribbler, a big game player. A winner. He is arguably one of the continent’s greatest players of all time.

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