Mohamed sallad, Victor Osimhen, Didier Drogba
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00:00Africa. Home to the great pyramids of Giza, Victoria Falls, and the Serengeti.
00:06Africa has the world's largest hot desert, the world's most abundant supply of mineral and natural resources,
00:13and it is the only continent where you can find all of the so-called Big Five animals,
00:17lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, and rhinos.
00:21That's not strictly true, of course, there are several large and very well-appointed zoos where you can find all five of them,
00:27but Africa is the only continent where you can find them all living in the wild.
00:32Scientists even believe that all modern humans are descended from an African population of Homo sapiens
00:37that began migrating to other continents about 60,000 years ago.
00:42In that sense, then, we're all African.
00:45But apparently it is, quote, inaccurate and grossly inappropriate for me to write that when I fill in my UK census form,
00:53and white British is still the correct term for me.
00:56Where's the fun in that?
00:58Africa is also pretty big.
01:01You heard it here first.
01:02By both landmass and population, it's the second largest continent on Earth behind Asia,
01:07but not so big that a gingerbread from Worthing can't still run the entire length of it.
01:13Despite its impressive size and population, no African nation has yet won the FIFA World Cup,
01:19but they are getting closer.
01:21Cameroon became the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals in 1990,
01:25Senegal and Ghana followed suit in 2002 and 2010,
01:29and at the last World Cup in 2022, Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semifinals.
01:37Though they've not yet won the biggest trophy of them all,
01:39Africa has produced a long line of world-class players,
01:43whether that be Didier Drogba, J.J. Okocha, or George Weah,
01:47but what is the current state of Africa's outstanding players?
01:51Well, in the third installment of this updated series on the best footballer from every country on Earth,
01:57which is proceeding with all of the pace, purpose, and efficiency of HS2,
02:01given that the first video on the best footballer from every country in Europe came out in April 2024,
02:08nine whole months ago,
02:10today we're going to find out.
02:12The criteria, as always, is the best player right now, solely in my opinion,
02:17with honourable mentions credited whenever it was a tough decision,
02:20and in order to be eligible, a player must either represent the national team in question,
02:25or have been born there, and neither declared for, nor represented any other nation.
02:31It is not, I repeat, it is not, the best footballer for each national team,
02:37based upon their performances on the international stage,
02:40which would produce some very different results,
02:43nor is it the best player at the peak of their powers,
02:46What's the best, right now, in terms of ability and overall performance levels?
02:51Oh, and, uh, Africa, in this context, just means every CAF-affiliated nation.
02:57Without further ado, then, who was, of course, born in Africa, in Ghana, to be specific,
03:02but represented the United States, so wouldn't be eligible,
03:05even if he was currently good enough to feature, which he quite obviously isn't,
03:09why are we even talking about him?
03:11Here is the best footballer right now, from every country in Africa.
03:16Algeria, Riyad Mahrez.
03:19It's a relatively boring one to get us started, but Riyad Mahrez is, nonetheless,
03:24still the best footballer from Algeria.
03:27The fourth best team in Africa, and the 37th best in the world, according to the FIFA World Rankings,
03:32ahead of Romania, Scotland, and Nigeria.
03:35Algeria haven't qualified for the World Cup since 2014,
03:39but they won the Africa Cup of Nations for only the second time,
03:42and the first time not on home soil, in 2019.
03:46AC Milan star Ishmael Benazir is probably the man who comes closest to usurping Riyad Mahrez,
03:52for the crown of being Algeria's main man,
03:55and he will inevitably overtake the 33-year-old at some stage.
03:59Meanwhile, the likes of Rami Benzabini, Baghdad Bunja, Hussein Mawar, and Amin Ghauri
04:04are all good value for honorable mentions.
04:07Riyad Mahrez may be past his scintillating peak now, which came between 2015 and 2022,
04:13but there aren't too many players better than him in the Saudi Pro League.
04:17The 2016 CAF African Footballer of the Year winner has scored 19 goals and made 22 assists,
04:24in 55 games since joining Al Ahly in the summer of 2023,
04:28where he stars in a front four alongside Gabri Vega, Roberto Firmino, and Ivan Toni.
04:34Angola, Umballa Anzola
04:37A little bit less of a household name,
04:39Umballa Anzola is currently starring for Ligue 1 Saint-Laurent, on loan from Fiorentina.
04:44Born in the small town of Bucosour, Anzola moved to France as a child,
04:49with his football education split between there and Portugal.
04:53His top flight breakthrough came with Spezia in the 2000 and 2021 season,
04:57where he scored 11 goals in 25 games, having won promotion on loan there the previous season.
05:03Renowned for his work rate, aggression, and intelligent attacking movement,
05:08Anzola has so far scored 6 goals in 15 games for Lens,
05:12but he has only won 6 caps and scored 2 goals since making his debut for Angola in 2021.
05:18Leon right back Clinton Mata, incredibly prolific Beijing Guam striker Fabio Abreu,
05:24and FC Krasnodar winger Joao Bacchi all earn honourable mentions,
05:28all of whom have also won fewer than 10 caps for Angola.
05:31Meanwhile, Botafogo centre-back Bastos earns a shout-out as Angola's main man,
05:36having begun his career there and been capped 58 times since 2011.
05:44Benin have never qualified for the World Cup, and are currently ranked 21st in Africa and 94th in the world,
05:50so it would be fair to say that they are not exactly brimming with world-class talent.
05:55Their greatest player of the modern era at least, Stéphane Sessignon, retired from football in 2023,
06:01now aged 40, which leaves Nigeria-born forward Tosun Egan as my pick for Benin.
06:07There are bigger names, former Premier League striker Steve Mooney,
06:11who now plays for Augsburg in the Bundesliga for one,
06:14but he has barely featured and hasn't yet scored a goal this season.
06:18Ludegret's Rasgrads, Olivier Verdon, and Troyes' junior Alaytan were also in contention,
06:24but it is fellow Ligue 1 star Tosun Egan who gets the nod for now.
06:29Signed by Lorient for €4m in 2023, Egan was relegated from the top flight of French football last season,
06:36having only scored 2 goals and made 1 assist in 19 games.
06:40Quick and purposeful, but far from prolific, Egan has scored 3 goals and made 6 assists in 17 games so far this season
06:48for the current Ligue 1 leaders, in addition to having scored 3 goals from 9 caps for Benin.
06:58Botswana is probably better known for its giraffes and its hyenas than its footballers.
07:03With a population of fewer than 2.5 million people, but a land area which is larger than Thailand or Spain,
07:09Botswana is among the most sparsely populated nations on Earth.
07:14Tatayawan Ditlochwe is one of the fewer than 2.5 million Botswanas though, and, arguably, he is the best one at kicking a ball.
07:23Capped 26 times at the age of 26, Ditlochwe is a centre-back who plays his club football for South African giants Kaiser Chiefs,
07:31having previously spent 3 years starring for Supersport United.
07:35Honourable mentions, of course, go to goalkeeper Jovan Nikolic, who plays in the 4th tier of Portuguese football,
07:41midfielder Gape Mohutswe, who plays in Algeria, left-winger Kabilo Siakanyeng, who plays in Morocco,
07:48and striker Thomasin Orobenye, who also plays in Morocco.
07:53An apology at this stage, just for the entirety of this video, for some of these pronunciations.
07:59I'm trying my best, I promise.
08:01A special shout-out must also go to Brandon Wilson, a defensive midfielder who was born in Botswana to English parents,
08:08raised in England from the age of 2, Australia from the age of 10, and now plays his club football for Bali United in Indonesia,
08:16who recently declared himself for Botswana and received a senior call-up,
08:20but hasn't yet represented the national team, owing to complications regarding his citizenship.
08:26Bikina Faso, Edmond Tapsoba.
08:29A relatively easy one, because Edmond Tapsoba is a truly outstanding centre-back,
08:35who played a pivotal role in Bayer Leverkusen winning their first ever Bundesliga title last season,
08:40but Bikina Faso, who have made three Africa Cup of Nations semi and one final appearance since 2013,
08:47have a handful of standout players.
08:49Tapsoba is the star man, capped 51 times, age 25, putting him on course to become Bikina Faso's most capped player of all time,
08:57and now probably a top 20 centre-back in world football,
09:01but Shakhtar Onet's forward Lacina Traore, his cousin, Ajax star, and Bikina Faso captain Bertrand Traore,
09:09and, arguably most notably of all on current form, Bournemouth's Dango Wattara,
09:14who has scored 10 goals from 28 caps for Bikina Faso, all earn very honourable mentions.
09:20Burundi, Youssef Ndiayechimiye.
09:23There is disappointment in store if you were expecting former Premier League star Saido Barahino to feature for Burundi,
09:30who barely warrants an honourable mention for the world's 139th-ranked national team at this stage,
09:35whereas wide man Bionvenu Kanekimana, who currently plays his club football in the Czech Republic,
09:41and Belgian-born Bearshot star Marco Weymans are all good value for at least a mention.
09:47Youssef Ndiayechimiye takes it relatively comfortably in truth, however,
09:52currently starring for Nice, the team sat fifth in the league on table,
09:56having moved to the Côte d'Azur for an €11m fee from Istanbul Beşiktaş in 2021.
10:02Deployed at centre-back by manager Franck Huygens at Nice this season,
10:05but also capable of playing in defence and midfield,
10:08Ndiayechimiye is a ferociously intelligent footballer,
10:12who makes up for his lack of elegance with a first-class mentality and reading of the game.
10:17He has been capped 21 times by Burundi to date,
10:20who have only ever once qualified for AFCON, let alone the World Cup.
10:25Cameroon
10:26André, Franck, Zambo and Guiça
10:28Among the most emphatic of honourable mentions in this entire video must surely go
10:33to Brentford star Brian Mbwemo, who has been among the most clinical goalscorers in the Premier League this season,
10:39ensuring that Thomas Franck's side have barely even noticed Ivan Toni's absence.
10:44Manchester United's André Inanna, Saudi Pro League star Georges Kevin Nkudu,
10:49and yes, still, he's actually only 32,
10:53national team captain Vincent Aboubacar, are all so deserving of mentions.
10:58But André, Franck, Zambo and Guiça is an absolute gem.
11:02Formerly of Fulham of course, where he spent two seasons in the Premier League and was relegated in both of them,
11:07and Guiça joined Napoli in 2022, following a season-long loan there,
11:12for a cut-price fee of 16 million euros.
11:15Brilliant at breaking with the ball from midfield,
11:17and Guiça is a fantastic athlete, a committed ball winner, and a frequently underrated technician.
11:24He was key to Napoli's unexpected 2022-23 Serie A title-winning campaign,
11:29and aged 29, he is perhaps playing the finest football of his career so far this season.
11:35Cape Verde, Logan Costa
11:38Cape Verde were one of the most exciting teams to watch at the last AFCON,
11:42where they topped a group containing African giants Egypt and Ghana,
11:46and only lost an extra time against South Africa in the quarter-finals.
11:50With a population of barely half a million people, Cape Verde is the third smallest country in Africa,
11:56but the national team draws upon an impressive diaspora of footballers.
12:00Logan Costa, unsurprisingly, wasn't born in Cape Verde,
12:04and nor were the likes of Fernando Barea, Gary Rodriguez, and former Manchester United man Bebe,
12:10who were all born in either Portugal or the Netherlands,
12:13but he has been capped 22 times by the national team to date.
12:17Costa was born in Paris, and he represented France at under-16 and 17 level,
12:22before switching his international allegiances in 2022.
12:26A bright and capable centre-back, Costa enjoyed a breakout campaign at Toulouse last season,
12:31leading to an €18m move to Villareal.
12:34Central African Republic, Jeffrey Kondogbia
12:39Another French-born, former French youth international,
12:42Jeffrey Kondogbia went one further than Logan Costa,
12:45actually winning five caps for France's senior team.
12:49None of those were in competitive fixtures, allowing Kondogbia to have a change of course
12:54and represent the Central African Republic in 2018 instead.
12:59Formerly of Lens, Sevilla, Monaco, Inter Milan, Valencia, and Atletico Madrid,
13:05he's been about a bit, hasn't he?
13:07Kondogbia joined Marseille in 2023, where he has played semi-regularly this season.
13:12An industrious and tough tackling midfielder,
13:15Kondogbia featured for the Central African Republic when I last made this series,
13:19five or six years ago, and he features yet again now.
13:23Shoutouts go to Rennes goalkeeper Jeffrey Lombé,
13:26Debrece midfielder Amos Yuga, and Amiens striker Louis Meffuta,
13:31all of whom were born in France, but Kondogbia dogwalks this one.
13:36Chad.
13:37Marius Muandilmadji.
13:39It is hard to believe, but there will be some people out there watching this video
13:43who've never even heard of Marius Muandilmadji.
13:46Don't mock them though, for they are the fortunate among us,
13:49as they are only just experiencing the joy of first discovering him right now.
13:54A six foot three inch workhorse of a centre forward,
13:57Muandilmadji had a one-in-one record up front for Porto,
14:01that is to say, he literally played one game and scored one goal.
14:05Signed by Saran in Belgium in 2021,
14:08Muandilmadji joined Turkish Super League side Samsun Spor in 2023,
14:12where he has since scored 16 goals and made 6 assists in 50 appearances.
14:18Aged 26, Muandilmadji has burst into life this season,
14:22averaging a goal contribution once every 150 minutes.
14:26That is great news for him, because it makes him Chad's star man,
14:30but it is bad news for the likes of Kuwait-based Kasimir Ninga,
14:34and Indonesia-based Ezekiel Ndusel, who might otherwise have had a shot at featuring.
14:39Chad's national team is among the worst in Africa, and in the world,
14:43ranked 176th out of 210 teams in total.
14:48Comoros. Ryan Luton.
14:51From the minnows of Chad to the giants of Comoros,
14:54Chad actually has a population which is over 20 times the size of Comoros' population,
14:59but a bit like Cape Verde, Comoros is an island nation with a talented diaspora,
15:04and a stronger pool of players, a national team as a result.
15:08Ryan Luton is the standout, a diminutive 22-year-old midfield playmaker,
15:12who plays for Omion in Ligue 2,
15:15but former Red Star Belgrade talisman Ben Nabohan,
15:18now aged 35 and back playing in Serbia,
15:21and fellow diminutive Ligue 2 midfielder Mohamed Youssef,
15:24who plays for Ezekiel, could just as easily have featured.
15:28Congo. Antoine Moukambou.
15:31Congo aren't great, they are ranked 128th in the world,
15:35but if they could get their best players playing for them on a regular basis,
15:39I'd back them to rise steadily up those rankings.
15:42Antoine Moukambou is a gifted and tireless midfield workhorse,
15:46capped 17 times, who plays for Cagliari in Serie A.
15:50Sylvain Gamboula is a powerful target man, capped 25 times,
15:54who plays for Young Boys in the Swiss Super League.
15:57Francis Nzamba is a really promising young centre-back, capped once,
16:01who currently plays in Turkey's second tier, on loan from Istanbul BeĹźiktaĹź.
16:06Gabriel Charpentier is a selfless striker, capped twice,
16:10who plays for Parma in Serie A.
16:12And Gais Makuta is a fantastic athlete, capped 20 times,
16:16who plays for Alenia Spor in the Turkish Super League.
16:19It is a depth of talent which means that Congo really ought to
16:22at least qualify semi-regularly for AFCON,
16:25something which they have only done once in over 20 years,
16:28and it is French boy Moukambou,
16:30who has been a regular fixture at Cagliari this season,
16:33who is probably the pick of the bunch.
16:36Djibouti.
16:38And Asfara Ali.
16:40A country that you will know well if you watch my documentary
16:43about Djibouti's bizarre billionaire bankroll football club.
16:46In one of the lowest-ranked leagues in world football,
16:49Djibouti isn't just a series of overseas military bases,
16:52it is also a country with its own national football team.
16:56They are ranked 191st in the world,
16:59which, let's not beat around the bush, is appalling.
17:03They are below Mongolia, the Cook Islands, and American Samoa,
17:06for crying out loud.
17:08And their best player, by some distance, was born and raised in Norway.
17:12A versatile young midfielder and forward with a good touch and technique,
17:16Farah Ali even represented Norway at under 15, 16, 17, and 18 level,
17:22but when a senior call-up never arrived,
17:24the former Friedrichstad-turned-current-Moss-FK man
17:28decided to represent one of the worst national teams on the planet instead,
17:32and instantly became their star man.
17:35DR Congo.
17:37Yoan Visa.
17:39One Brentford star, Brian Mbwemo,
17:41may miss out as being the best player from an African nation,
17:44but Yoan Visa does not.
17:46That isn't because Visa is better than Mbwemo,
17:49he isn't,
17:50but because DR Congo aren't as good as Cameroon.
17:53The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the 4th largest country in Africa by population,
17:58and the 14th largest in the world,
18:00home to over 100 million people,
18:03but it is also among the most deeply troubled, conflicted, and crisis-ridden as well.
18:08That is why Yoan Visa's parents, like a lot of Congolese people,
18:12moved elsewhere in the world for a better life,
18:14and Visa was born and raised in the hotbed of talent that is the suburbs of Paris.
18:19A first-class professional with a bit of pace in an oust for goal,
18:23Visa joined Brentford 4 seasons ago,
18:25and he has improved, literally every season that he has been in West London.
18:30The scorer of 5 goals from 29 caps for DR Congo,
18:33Visa features in this video ahead of the very talents
18:36of Montpellier's Dimitri Bertau,
18:38Marseille's Chancellor Mbembe,
18:41Besiktas' Arthur Masuwaku,
18:43Ipswich Town's Axel Twanzebe,
18:45West Brom's Grady Diangana,
18:47and Real Betis' Cedric Bakambu.
18:50Egypt.
18:51Mohamed Salah.
18:53The easiest decision in this entire video,
18:56Mohamed Salah isn't just the best Egyptian footballer right now,
19:00he is by far the best player from Africa as a whole,
19:03and, arguably, at this stage,
19:06I think that you could make a compelling case
19:08that he is the greatest African footballer of all time.
19:11Certainly, if you were to discount the likes of Mario Coluna and Eusebio,
19:16who were born in colonial Mozambique but represented Portugal,
19:20I think the argument for Salah is at the very least as compelling
19:24as any of Drogba, Eto'o or Weah,
19:26and probably more so at this stage.
19:29Sometimes accused of not being as aesthetically pleasing
19:32as other players of his calibre,
19:34of which there are vanishingly few,
19:36the fact of the matter is that Salah has scored 232 goals
19:40and made 105 assists in 379 appearances for Liverpool,
19:45averaging a goal contribution once every 91 minutes
19:49over a period of more than 7 years.
19:52That is an utterly absurd level of output,
19:54and for Egypt, Salah has scored 59 goals in 103 games,
19:59putting him just 10 goals behind Egypt's all-time leading goalscorer,
20:02Hossam Hassan.
20:04Equatorial Guinea, Solkoko.
20:07Abundant in natural resources,
20:09Equatorial Guinea is among the richest countries in Africa
20:12by GDP per capita,
20:14but following 200 years of Spanish colonial rule,
20:17the bloody post-independence dictatorship of Francisco Macias Nguema,
20:22and the current totalitarian regime led by his nephew,
20:25Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasoga,
20:28Equatorial Guinea's wealth is incredibly unevenly distributed,
20:32and over half the country is seriously impoverished.
20:35The nation's football team is on the rise, though,
20:38so, you know, that probably balances that out,
20:40successfully qualifying for AFCON 2025,
20:43having reached the quarterfinals of the previous tournament.
20:46The star player for the National Thunder, as they are nicknamed,
20:50is Solkoko.
20:51Born on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, just off the coast of Africa,
20:55Koko was eligible to represent either Spain,
20:58Equatorial Guinea, or Nigeria.
21:00He chose to follow in his Equator-Guinean father's footsteps,
21:04making his international debut in 2017.
21:07A gifted ball-playing centre-back,
21:09with the occasional thunderbolt from range as part of his arsenal,
21:13Koko made his name with Las Palmas in La Liga and in the Segunda DivisiĂłn,
21:17before joining Serie A Sartorino last summer
21:20for a reported €7.5 million.
21:23Eritrea
21:24Mohamed Zayed
21:26From one authoritarian dictatorship to another one,
21:29albeit on different coasts of Africa,
21:31Eritrea was colonised by the Ottomans,
21:34the Egyptians,
21:35the Italians,
21:36and, briefly, the British,
21:38before fighting a bloody, almost 30-year war of independence
21:42against the Ethiopian Empire.
21:44Since then, Eritrea has been ruled by the Iron Fist of Ezeias Efwerki,
21:49with dire consequences in almost all sectors,
21:52and football is no exception.
21:54Eritrea is currently the only unranked team in the FIFA World Rankings,
21:58which, as I covered in a feature-length video should any of you be interested,
22:02is because they haven't played a game in five years
22:05and withdrew from 2026 World Cup qualifying
22:08because players kept defecting as refugees to flee the regime
22:12whenever they played abroad.
22:14That means that Mohamed Zayed, Eritrea's best player,
22:17is yet to add to the one-cap that he won on his debut in 2019.
22:22An incredibly versatile midfielder come forward,
22:25who can play just about anywhere,
22:27Zayed's parents were Eritrean refugees,
22:30and he was born and raised in Sweden.
22:32Following a 15-year career split between Scandinavia and the United States,
22:37Zayed actually announced his retirement from football earlier this month, age 34,
22:42but it is such slim pickings from Eritrea that he is still,
22:45almost undoubtedly,
22:47the most talented eligible candidate at this moment in time,
22:51and he features as a result.
22:53Izzuottini, Fenello Mamba.
22:56The world's most recently renamed nation,
22:59Fenello Mamba made his debut for Izzuottini in 2018,
23:02which was the same year in which Swaziland was renamed Izzuottini.
23:07A former British colony and the last absolute monarchy left in Africa,
23:11Izzuottini is ruled by Mswati III,
23:14who enjoys a lavish lifestyle
23:16and a $61 million annual household budget provided by the state,
23:20while most Swazis or Liswatis live on less than $1.25 a day.
23:26Changing their name has done little to improve the Izzuottini national team's fortunes,
23:31they are currently ranked 159th in the world,
23:34and they have never appeared in a single AFCON tournament.
23:37Striker Fenello Mamba is the nation's star man,
23:40having briefly played football abroad for Haryana in Malaysia,
23:43and the score of six goals from 36 caps for the predictably nicknamed King's Shield.
23:49In truth, there will be few nations in this entire series with fewer candidates.
23:55Ethiopia, Abu Bekir Nasir.
23:58The nation that waged war with Eritrea for so long as a colonial empire,
24:03Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa
24:06and the 11th most populous in the world,
24:08reportedly having recently overtaken both the Philippines and Japan.
24:13Despite an enormous football-loving population,
24:16Ethiopia's national team are also enormous underachievers,
24:19ranked 146th in the world,
24:22and only having qualified for AFCON once in the last decade.
24:25Norwegian international Tokmak Ngun's mother was Ethiopian,
24:29but I'm not sure how good she is at football, so that doesn't really help us,
24:33meaning that the best eligible candidate is probably Abu Bekir Nasir,
24:38a pacey left winger who plays for Supersport United,
24:41on loan from Marmalady Sundowns in South Africa.
24:44An honourable mention goes to Serie C defender Eyob Zambitaro,
24:48who was born in Ethiopia, but adopted by Italians after being orphaned,
24:53and hasn't yet represented the national team.
24:56He would certainly improve them, though.
24:58Gabon, Pierre-Emerick Abameyang.
25:01Gabon's greatest player of all time, Pierre-Emerick Abameyang,
25:05is another rare repeat inclusion from the last time that I made this series,
25:08five or six years ago, but it was much closer this time around.
25:13Aged 35, Abameyang is currently playing for Saudi Aramco-owned Al-Khwazia
25:18in the Saudi Pro League, who have an average attendance of less than 8,000.
25:23Abameyang's eight goals in 15 games since arriving in Kobar
25:26is enough to hold off the challenge of 30-year-old Major League Soccer star
25:29Denis Buanga, who has been absolutely electric since signing for LAFC in 2022.
25:36The former Ligue 1 star has 69 goals and 31 assists in 106 games
25:41since moving to California, averaging better-than-a-goal contribution every 90 minutes.
25:47Red Star Belgrade's Gyula Kanga and Wolves' Mario Lamina also earn mentions
25:52for a Gabon team which really ought to be qualifying for AFCON in 2025.
25:57The Gambia, Yankuba Minte.
26:00Fun fact, the Gambia is one of only two countries that insist on the definite article
26:06being included in their name, along with the Bahamas,
26:09and their president, Adama Barrow, is an Arsenal supporter,
26:12having begun supporting the club while he was living in England.
26:16Two fun facts for the price of one there.
26:19Though small and relatively weak as a national team,
26:22the Gambia actually have a few really talented players,
26:25including Moussa Barrow, no relation to the president,
26:28who is currently making mincemeat of the Saudi Pro League
26:31following several years starring in Serie A.
26:34He narrowly misses out to Yankuba Minte, who was sensational on loan at Feyenoord last season,
26:39preceding a ÂŁ30m move to Brighton, before Minte had even played a game for Newcastle United.
26:45An exciting wide man with pace to burn, Minte has scored three goals
26:49and made three assists for Brighton so far this season, still aged only 20,
26:54and he really ought to become the Gambia's most capped and highest scoring player of all time
26:59by the time that he hangs up his boots.
27:02Ghana. In Arky Williams.
27:04One of the historic powerhouses of African football,
27:07four-time AFCON winners Ghana are in a miserable period right now,
27:11and I am currently researching a video about their fairly shocking demise.
27:16That is a reminder to subscribe there, in case that wasn't obvious,
27:19and in case you haven't already.
27:21Despite their woeful form, Ghana still have several highly talented individuals,
27:26whether that be West Ham's Mohamed Kudos, Arsenal's No. 5,
27:30or Bournemouth's Antoine Semenu.
27:32Athletic clubs in Arky Williams is the standout nonetheless,
27:35narrowly ahead of Kudos in my view, having been electric once again in La Liga this season.
27:41Born and raised in Bilbao, making him eligible to represent Athletic Club,
27:45Williams won one cap for Spain in 2016,
27:48but while his brother Nico won the Euros with Spain last summer,
27:51Arky switched his allegiances to Ghana in 2022.
27:56Quick, tricky and highly productive in the final third,
27:59Williams has 10 goal contributions in 19 games so far this season,
28:03but he has only scored one goal from 21 caps for struggling Ghana to date.
28:08Guinea. Serhu Gerasi.
28:11Almost as easy as including Mohamed Salah,
28:13Serhu Gerasi is one of the outstanding African internationals in world football right now,
28:18enjoying an impressive debut campaign at Borussia Dortmund.
28:22A late bloomer in some ways, 28-year-old Gerasi had motored along nicely in Liga
28:27for a number of years, but it was at Stuttgart last season that he emphatically burst into life.
28:33His incredible 30 goals in 30 games was second only to Harry Kane in the Bundesliga,
28:38and it helped to fire Stuttgart from 16th place and a relegation playoff the previous season,
28:43all the way up into second, above Bayern Munich.
28:47A bargain €18m move to Borussia Dortmund followed,
28:50where Gerasi has since scored 7 goals in 15 games.
28:54Born in France, and a star man for France's under-19s and 20s,
28:58Gerasi has already scored 9 goals from 21 caps for Guinea since making his senior international debut in 2022.
29:06Guinea-Boisseau. Bertheau.
29:09Bloody hell, are we still only on G?
29:12Who knew that there were so many countries in Africa?
29:15Apologies for the terseness from this point onwards,
29:18I know that you all love my fun facts, but I'd best start getting a move on.
29:22Guinea-Boisseau is a small country that punches above its weight in African football,
29:26and while Everton striker Bertheau might be a bit of a punchline in the Premier League,
29:30there is a reason why he commanded a €30m transfer fee.
29:35He hit double figures in successive seasons as a powerful target man at Udinese in Serie A,
29:41and the Lisbon-born frontman has scored once from 4 caps since making his Guinea-Boisseau debut in 2024.
29:48He features very narrowly ahead of Brest's ever-entertaining wide man, Mamabalde.
29:53Ivory Coast. Francais.
29:56The Ivory Coast, or the CĂ´te d'Avoire if you're feeling fancy,
30:00or you just speak French of course, are the reigning African champions,
30:05despite only being ranked 6th in Africa, having won the last AFCON in fairly remarkable circumstances.
30:11Lacking any single individual standout player in my view,
30:15Sporting's Ousmane Diomande, Monaco's Wilfred Singo,
30:19Ron's Seiko Fafana, Nice's Jeremie Boga, Brighton's Seaman Odingra,
30:24and Red Bull Salzburg's Karim Kanate all deserve to be in the conversation, among others,
30:30but it is another waning Saudi Pro League star who still just about deserves to feature in my view.
30:36Former AC Milan and Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessier is an absolute workhorse,
30:41a superb athlete, and a penalty specialist.
30:44And he has taken that superb attitude to Saudi Arabia,
30:47where many other players just relax and enjoy their paycheck.
30:51Kenya. Joseph Akumu.
30:54Better associated with their long-distance runners than their footballers,
30:58now that Victor Wanyama is 33 years old and without a club,
31:02following 4 years in Major League Soccer with Montreal,
31:05I would argue that Kenya's standout player is probably Joseph Akumu.
31:10I wouldn't argue it too vociferously, I mean, it's really not that big of a deal.
31:14It simply would not be worth my hassle, but it is nonetheless a statement that I believe to be true.
31:20Capped 20 times, Akumu is a towering centre-back who didn't start playing in Europe until the age of 22.
31:27Now aged 27 and contracted to Ligue 1 Saint-RĂ©my,
31:31he has been really solid this season and deserves the recognition,
31:35even if Wanyama remains a much bigger name.
31:38Lesotho.
31:39Tebiso Brown.
31:41A nation of barely 2 million people surrounded entirely by South Africa,
31:45Lesotho's player pool isn't enormous,
31:48and that is reflected in the lowly ranking of their national team.
31:51Sarah Mutterbang, Kataleho Makatang and Tebiso Brown are the three outstanding candidates,
31:57the first two of whom play their club football in neighbouring South Africa.
32:00Meanwhile Brown, the pick of the trio,
32:03plays for Jiangsu Lushan in the second tier of Chinese football.
32:07Among the world's best travelled strikers,
32:09Brown was born in Lesotho and played in Bolivia and in Peru,
32:13before relocating to China in 2023.
32:16Liberia.
32:18Oscar Dawley.
32:19Liberia is the home of arguably Africa's greatest ever footballer,
32:23and the continent's only Ballon d'Or winner to date,
32:26but even with George Weah,
32:28Liberia's team as a whole was always too weak to make any significant waves in international football.
32:34The same is true, albeit to a much lesser extent,
32:37with Oscar Dawley, who is by some distance the country's star man right now.
32:42Born Murphy Dawley but nicknamed Oscar by a former coach
32:45because he felt his style of play resembled the Brazilians,
32:48Dawley has played his club football in Europe since 2016,
32:52and in the Czech Republic to be specific since 2018,
32:55currently starring for one of the country's two biggest and most successful clubs,
32:59Slavia Prague.
33:01Libya.
33:02Almazrati.
33:04Football is the least of Libya's concerns right now,
33:07following 42 years of Gaddafi,
33:09NATO's calamitous 2011 intervention,
33:12the chaos that has since ensued,
33:14and then serious flooding,
33:16but the fact remains that they haven't qualified for AFCON since 2012,
33:19which isn't very good.
33:21Almazrati,
33:22full name Almoet Sambela Ali Mohamed Almazrati,
33:26is, again, quite comfortably,
33:29the country's standout player.
33:31Formerly at Vitoria de Guimaraes and Braga in Portugal,
33:34Almazrati now plays for Besiktas,
33:36where he won the Turkish Cup last season,
33:38before turning his loan move into a permanent one
33:41for around 11 million euros.
33:43An excellent deep line playmaker
33:45with a fantastic range of passing and understanding of the game,
33:49Almazrati retired from international football in October,
33:52aged 28,
33:53citing personal reasons
33:55in what is a devastating blow to Libya's prospects
33:58on the international stage.
34:01Madagascar.
34:02Like La Poussane.
34:04AFCON virgins until 2019,
34:06where they went all the way to the quarterfinals in their tournament debut,
34:10Madagascar isn't just a DreamWorks Pictures animated movie,
34:14it is also a nation of more than 30 million people.
34:18Like La Poussane,
34:19who was born,
34:20you guessed it,
34:21in the suburbs of Paris,
34:23is comfortably the nation's star man,
34:25capped 21 times since making his international bow in 2020.
34:29A hard-working wing-back or wide midfielder,
34:32La Poussane has played a key role
34:34in Royal Union Saint-Gillois' meteoric rise since he joined the club,
34:38also in 2020.
34:40Malawi.
34:41Gabardino Mahango.
34:43Possibly the shortest talisman in all of world football,
34:475-foot-4-inch Gabardino Mahango
34:50has scored 18 goals from 72 caps for Malawi
34:53since making his international debut in 2012.
34:56Renowned for his searing pace
34:58and for playing on the shoulder of the last defender,
35:00Mahango has spent almost his entire career playing in South Africa,
35:04currently for Marumo Gallants.
35:07Mali.
35:08Yves Bissouma.
35:10RB Leipzig's Amadou Haidara
35:12and Everton's Abdoulaye Dekore
35:14deserve very honourable mentions,
35:15but Tottenham's Yves Bissouma
35:17is Mali's main man.
35:19Born in Ivory Coast,
35:21Bissouma is a naturalised Malian citizen,
35:23having moved there at the age of 13
35:25in order to pursue a career in professional football.
35:28His big break came in 2016
35:30when he was signed by Lille
35:32and made his debut for the national team,
35:34before being identified by Brighton's data-driven scouting team.
35:38Four years at Brighton was enough to catch the eye
35:40of several leading clubs,
35:42but instead, Bissouma joined Tottenham.
35:45I'm sorry Spurs fans, that was a joke
35:47and not a very good one.
35:48In and out of the team this season,
35:50Bissouma's role and responsibilities
35:52divide opinion among Spurs fans,
35:54but at his best, and in the right system,
35:56Bissouma is a real asset,
35:58as he illustrated at both Lille and Brighton.
36:01Mauritania.
36:03Aboubakar Ekoita.
36:05One of the most exploited populations on the planet,
36:0890% of Mauritania is made up of the Sahara,
36:11meanwhile more than 2% of the country's population,
36:14of fewer than 5 million,
36:16are estimated to be modern day slaves.
36:19Aboubakar Ekoita,
36:21the national team's star man since deciding
36:23to represent them in 2023,
36:25was born in Senegal and raised in Belgium.
36:28Eligible to represent Mauritania
36:30through his half-Mauritanian father,
36:32Ekoita is a quick and gifted wide man who,
36:35having never previously played outside of Belgium,
36:37joined Greek side AEK Athens
36:39for a reported €4 million last summer.
36:42Mauritius.
36:44Lindsay Rose.
36:45One of the richest and most developed countries
36:47in Africa by most metrics,
36:49Mauritius is a tropical island paradise,
36:52of barely a million people,
36:54which relies heavily on tourism.
36:56The only majority Hindu nation in Africa,
36:59I didn't say that there would be no more fun facts at all,
37:02French-born former France Youth International Lindsay Rose,
37:05and that isn't a woman's name,
37:07plays his club football in Greece for Aris,
37:09and is the nation's standout player.
37:11Honourable mentions nonetheless go to
37:13Australian-born Dylan Collard,
37:15who plays his club football for Maritimo in Madeira,
37:18and, yes,
37:20Paris-born Kevin Brew,
37:22who is currently without a club, age 36,
37:24but previously starred for the likes of
37:26Levski Sofia and Ipswich Town.
37:29Morocco.
37:31Ashraf Hakimi.
37:33Africa's first World Cup semi-finalist
37:35at the most recent World Cup,
37:37Morocco probably have the strongest pool of players
37:39in African football at this moment in time.
37:42Al-Hilal goalkeeper Yassin Bounou,
37:44Fenerbahce striker Youssef En-Nesri,
37:47Real Madrid wide man or number 10 Brahim Diaz,
37:50who scored one goal from one cap for Spain,
37:52and has so far scored seven goals
37:54in only eight appearances for Morocco
37:56since switching his international allegiances,
37:58meaning that he had to be seriously considered,
38:01all earn honourable mentions
38:03that Ashraf Hakimi is one of the best
38:05fullbacks in the world.
38:07Formerly of Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund
38:09and Inter Milan,
38:11Hakimi has already won a quite incredible
38:1382 caps for Morocco at the age of only 26,
38:16giving him a realistic prospect
38:18of becoming one of the most capped
38:20male footballers of all time.
38:22Mozambique.
38:24Reynaldo Mandava.
38:26Described by Bob Dylan as a magical land
38:28in a song named Mozambique
38:30on his 1976 album Desire,
38:32released shortly after the end of the
38:34Mozambican War of Independence,
38:36Mozambique is a historically
38:38and presently deeply troubled
38:40yet fascinating nation,
38:42which I talked about at length
38:44in a previously nonsensical video
38:46about a football club that doesn't exist a while ago.
38:48A former Portuguese colony
38:50who gave Portugal their two greatest
38:52players of all time,
38:54at least prior to Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo,
38:56and arguably still their greatest,
38:58it won't surprise you to discover
39:00that Mozambique's current best player
39:02by a country mile
39:04also made his name in Portugal.
39:06Formerly of Benfica and Belenenses,
39:08Reynaldo Mandava can play
39:10at either left-back or centre-back,
39:12and the 31-year-old,
39:14capped 47 times by his native Mozambique,
39:16has spent the last three years
39:18playing under Diego Simeone
39:20for Atletico Madrid.
39:22Namibia.
39:24The toughest call yet in this video,
39:26it is difficult to split Peter Shalalule,
39:28who has scored an astonishing number
39:30of goals since joining
39:32Marmaludi Sundowns in 2020,
39:34and Dion Hotto, who also plays
39:36in South Africa for the Orlando Pirates,
39:38and has arguably made
39:40a greater contribution to Namibia's national team.
39:42Ultimately,
39:44Shalalule's goals are difficult to overlook,
39:4696 in 182 games
39:48for Marmaludi Sundowns in total,
39:50so the 31-year-old
39:52just about sneaks in.
39:54An honourable mention also goes to
39:56Ryan Nyambe, who plays for Derby County
39:58in the Championship.
40:00Niger. Ali Mohamed.
40:02Not to be confused with the Ali Mohamed
40:04who worked as a double agent
40:06for both the CIA and Egypt's
40:08Islamic Jihad simultaneously,
40:10reporting on the workings of each for the benefit
40:12of the other. I can imagine
40:14there was some confusion there.
40:16Niger's best footballer, Ali Mohamed,
40:18works for Israeli football club
40:20Maccabi Haifa, and has no
40:22involvement in any kind of international
40:24espionage, at least as far as
40:26I'm aware. A talented midfielder
40:28who was previously contracted to Bordeaux,
40:30Mohamed has been playing his club
40:32football in Israel for the last 10 years,
40:34now aged 29.
40:36Nigeria. Victor Osamen.
40:38With all due respect to Galatasaray,
40:40who are a massive football
40:42club, Victor Osamen is simply
40:44far too good at this stage of his career
40:46to be playing in a league that is ranked 10th
40:48in Europe by UEFA, below the
40:50Belgian and Czech top flanks.
40:52Aged 26, Osamen is
40:54one of the best strikers on the planet,
40:56whose absolute peak may still lie
40:58ahead of him. Instrumental in
41:00Napoli's historic 2022-23
41:02Serie A title win,
41:04in which he scored 26 goals in
41:0632 games before falling out with the club,
41:08Osamen is a prolific goal
41:10scorer, a willing runner,
41:12and he has an incredible talent to make
41:14mediocre passes look like brilliant ones,
41:16thanks to his intelligence and
41:18athleticism. Nigeria,
41:20which is the largest country in Africa
41:22and the 6th largest in the world,
41:24with a population of well over 200
41:26million people, obviously have
41:28lots of other good players, Adam Ola
41:30Lukman chief among them, but none
41:32who come close to Osamen.
41:34RĂ©union, Ryan Ponty.
41:36RĂ©union isn't actually
41:38a country, it is a French overseas
41:40department, but they have their own
41:42CAF-affiliated national team, which
41:44means that they feature in this list.
41:46Former Marseille and West Ham star
41:48Dimitri Payet was actually born on the island,
41:50but he represented France, thus
41:52rendering him ineligible, which means
41:54that it is a tough choice between RĂ©union's
41:56all-time leading goal scorer,
41:58Jean-Michel Fontaine, who has scored
42:0015 goals from only 30 caps,
42:02previously played 3 games for Fleetwood
42:04Town, but is now back playing in
42:06RĂ©union, aged 36,
42:08and Ryan Ponty, who is the only
42:10inclusion in this video who doesn't have his own
42:12Wikipedia page, but is a regular
42:14fixture for US Allianz
42:16in France's 3rd tier champion at
42:18Nationale, which is enough for him to feature
42:20for RĂ©union, who aren't FIFA
42:22members, and therefore don't feature
42:24in the FIFA World Rankings.
42:26Rwanda. Jihad Bizimana.
42:28Caps 62 times,
42:30Rwanda's Jihad Bizimana
42:32is a 28-year-old midfielder
42:34who plays for Kervbaskervia
42:36in the Ukrainian Premier League.
42:38He is almost certainly Rwanda's
42:40best player right now, but American-based
42:42forward, Innocent Nshuti,
42:44is good value for an honourable mention.
42:46Sao Tome and
42:48Principe. Louis Lille.
42:50The 3rd smallest country in Africa
42:52by population, and the 4th worst
42:54national team, according to the FIFA World
42:56Rankings, don't let that blind
42:58you to the fact that Louis Lille
43:00is one of football's all-time great
43:02journeymen centre-forwards.
43:04Born in Portugal, Lille has played
43:06for an incredible 20 different
43:08clubs in a career so far spanning
43:1018 years, taking him to
43:129 different countries across
43:144 different continents.
43:16He is Sao Tome and Principe's captain
43:18and all-time leading goalscorer,
43:20now aged 37, and he still
43:22just about gets the nod as their
43:24best player, ahead of Gilles Carvalho,
43:26who was born in Portugal and plays
43:28non-league football in England, and
43:30Jaramiz, who was actually born in
43:32Sao Tome and Principe, and now plays
43:34second-tier football in Portugal.
43:36Senegal.
43:38Sadio Mane. The gap
43:40isn't as big as it once was, but
43:42Sadio Mane still sees off the competition
43:44of Ismail Assar, Nicolas
43:46Jackson, Khalidou Koulabaly,
43:48and Idrissa Gueye as Senegal's
43:50star man. Integral to
43:52Premier League and Champions League title-winning
43:54campaigns at Liverpool, Mane has
43:56scored 26 goals in 75
43:58games, since joining Al Nasser
44:00in Saudi Arabia, as well as
44:02marrying a teenager.
44:04Seychelles.
44:06The smallest and the
44:08richest country in Africa per capita,
44:10the Seychelles actually has a
44:12higher nominal GDP per capita
44:14than the likes of Romania,
44:16Russia, and Argentina.
44:18That's great and all, but their football
44:20team is still absolutely dreadful,
44:22ranked 201st out of
44:24210 teams in the FIFA World Rankings
44:26without a win since
44:28beating Sri Lanka over three years ago.
44:30Sharman Hausel, who
44:32is half German and half
44:34Seychellois, and represented
44:36Germany at under 17 level before
44:38becoming a full international for the Seychelles,
44:40is the country's best player by
44:42a fair old margin. Capped
44:44thrice since then, Hausel, formerly
44:46of Mainz, plays his cup football
44:48for Babelsberg in Germany's
44:50fourth tier regional league of these days.
44:52Sierra Leone.
44:54Stephen Corker. A
44:56man who has battled back from serious
44:58addiction and mental health difficulties
45:00to become Sierra Leone's star man,
45:02Stephen Corker won one cap and
45:04scored one goal for England back in 2012,
45:06when he was at the height of his
45:08reputation, prior to joining
45:10Cardiff City for a club record ÂŁ8 million,
45:12and Queen's Park Rangers
45:14for a fee even bigger than that one.
45:16Corker made his Sierra Leone debut
45:18in 2022, aged 30,
45:2010 years after his England debut,
45:22after enjoying a career
45:24renaissance in the Turkish Super League.
45:26Capped 18 times to date,
45:28following a brief foray into player
45:30management in Spain, Corker is back
45:32playing in Turkey again now.
45:34Corker is a member of the Corker
45:36family of Sierra Leone, and
45:38a descendant of the highly influential and
45:40wealthy 17th century slave trader,
45:42Thomas Corker, hence his
45:44eligibility to represent Sierra Leone.
45:46Honourable mentions go to
45:48Middlesbrough's Alex Bangura,
45:50Plymouth Argyle's Mustafa Bundu,
45:52and Chisinau's Augustus Cargbo.
45:54Somalia.
45:56Bill Allen Jay. There are
45:58some brilliant young footballers within
46:00the Somalian diaspora, especially
46:02in Scandinavia, including Taha Ali,
46:04who won his first cap for Sweden
46:0612 months ago. The Somalian
46:08national team themselves,
46:10for a variety of reasons, in a nation
46:12plagued by instability, unrest,
46:14and economic hardship, are
46:16currently the lowest ranked African nation,
46:18excluding Eritrea, who are
46:20suspended, and the 9th lowest
46:22ranked in the world. Bill Allen
46:24Jay, who was born in Norway to a
46:26Gambian father and a Somalian mother,
46:28decided to represent Somalia
46:30in 2023, becoming
46:32their star man overnight.
46:34A gifted 6 foot wide man,
46:36Jay has spent his entire career playing in Norway,
46:38where his parents made home before he
46:40was born, and he currently plays for
46:42Odd, who were relegated from
46:44the top flight of Norwegian football last
46:46season. South Africa.
46:48Ronvan Williams.
46:50The only African nation to
46:52have hosted a FIFA World Cup,
46:54the legacy of the 2010 World Cup
46:56on South African football
46:58has been sub-optimal,
47:00shall we just say. Despite a
47:0260 million plus population,
47:04and an immense passion for the sport,
47:06Bafana Bafana currently rank
47:0827th in the world, below the likes of
47:10Mali, Tunisia, and
47:12Iraq. They still have some talent,
47:14Kat RSC's Percy Tau,
47:16Marmalade Sundown's
47:18Tembers Vane, and Burnley's Lyle Foster
47:20all deserve some love, but it is
47:22goalkeeper Ronvan Williams,
47:24who spent time in the Tottenham Hotspur Academy,
47:26who is the standout.
47:28Aged 32 and capped 50 times
47:30by Bafana Bafana, Williams
47:32has excellent reflexes and distribution,
47:34and in the last 2 years,
47:36he has won the African Cup of Nations
47:38Best Goalkeeper Award, the African
47:40Football League Best Goalkeeper Award,
47:42and the African Goalkeeper of the Year
47:44Award, as well as becoming the first
47:46South African to be nominated for
47:48either the Yashin Trophy, or any award
47:50for that matter at the Ballon d'Or ceremony,
47:52where he was named as the 9th
47:54best goalkeeper in the world in 2024.
47:56South Sudan
47:58Tito Akello
48:00It's a toss-up between PSM
48:02Makassar's Tito Akello,
48:04and Nassaf's Valentino Yul for
48:06South Sudan. Obviously,
48:08you don't need me to tell you that. And to my
48:10mind, it is Akello who comes out
48:12on top. Born in Uganda,
48:14but a South Sudan international since 2020,
48:16Akello played in Uganda,
48:18Tanzania, Macau,
48:20Kenya, and Iran before
48:22moving to Indonesia, and his 6
48:24goals from 25 caps means
48:26that he is already the all-time joint
48:28highest goalscorer for the nation
48:30that is currently ranked 7th from bottom in
48:32Africa. Sudan
48:34Mohamed Abdelrahman
48:36Sudan are a whopping
48:3857 places above South Sudan
48:40in the FIFA World Rankings, aided
48:42by having over 4 times the population,
48:44and that is reflected in the
48:46calibre of their star man.
48:48Mohamed Abdelrahman is a prolific
48:50marksman who has scored 23
48:52goals from only 55 caps for Sudan,
48:54and he will soon likely
48:56overtake 80-year-old Sudanese legend
48:58Nasser Eddin Abbas
49:00as the country's all-time leading goalscorer.
49:02Following a brief stint
49:04playing in Algeria, where he was,
49:06let's just say, a little bit less
49:08prolific, Abdelrahman is back
49:10in his comfort zone, and back banging
49:12in goals for fun in Sudan now.
49:14Tanzania, Mbwana
49:16Samata. His one goal
49:18in 14 Premier League games following
49:20an ÂŁ8.5m move to
49:22Aston Villa might have been quite forgettable,
49:24but on the international stage,
49:26Mbwana Samata is Tanzania's
49:28talisman. Currently contracted
49:30to Pauka in Greece, where he has
49:32only managed to score 3 goals in 53
49:34games, Samata captained
49:36Tanzania and has scored 22 goals
49:38from 83 caps for his country,
49:40which means that he too will
49:42likely soon become his country's
49:44all-time leading goalscorer.
49:46Honourable mentions go to Simon Masava,
49:48Himad Mao, who is of no
49:50relation to the People's Republic of China
49:52founder Mao Zedong.
49:54Again, probably some confusion there.
49:56A novitus moroshi, or
49:58Tanzania's holy trinity, as I
50:00like to refer to them, but Samata
50:02is the best player from the country,
50:04which is home to Africa's tallest mountain.
50:06Yes,
50:08Mount Kilimanjaro, of course.
50:10We are still laughing and learning,
50:12even at this late stage, aren't we?
50:14Togo. Kajo
50:16Fodolaba. The obvious
50:18choice for Togo, the birthplace of
50:20Arsenal's chief antagonist, Emmanuel Adebayor,
50:22would be long-term Getafe
50:24centre-back and club captain,
50:26Djene Dekonam, who I believe
50:28featured in this series many moons ago
50:30and would be a perfectly reasonable
50:32inclusion once again now,
50:34meanwhile Sadik Fafana and Kevin Denke
50:36aren't too far behind.
50:38Whilst Djene has had one or
50:40two iffy moments in La Liga this
50:42season, though, another star of
50:44the Togo team, Kajo Fodolaba,
50:46has been scoring goals at a
50:48rate unlike almost anyone else
50:50in world football. Alright,
50:52sure, it is for Alain
50:54in the Qatar Stars League, but
50:56Laba, who now plays under former
50:58league untitled winning head coach Leonardo Jardim,
51:00has smashed in 15 goals
51:02in only 10 league games so far
51:04this season, and 135
51:06goals in 167
51:08games for Alain in total.
51:10Those are almost
51:12Asamoah Jam numbers.
51:14Tunisia. Elie Eskiri.
51:16Tunisia may rank just
51:18outside of the world's top 50,
51:20but they have qualified for the last two World Cups
51:22and every AFCON since 1994,
51:24winning the tournament in
51:262004. Longtime
51:28talisman Wabi Khazri is 33
51:30years old now, and retired from
51:32international football in 2022,
51:34but still warrants a mention, as do
51:36Aissa Leydouni, Ali Abdi,
51:38and Hanimal Majebri, but
51:40in the year of our Lord 2025,
51:42I think Elie Eskiri
51:44is Tunisia's best player.
51:46Born in France, but capped
51:4869 times by the nation of his father,
51:50Eskiri is a dogged, determined,
51:52and tough tackling defensive
51:54midfield enforcer, formerly
51:56of Montpellier and Caen, who has
51:58been starring for Eintracht Frankfurt
52:00since 2023.
52:02Uganda. Denis
52:04Oyengo. The oldest player
52:06to feature in this video, I think,
52:08to be honest with you, I am losing track
52:10at this point, as well as the will to live.
52:12I reckon that it would be easier to run the
52:14entire length of Africa than it was researching,
52:16writing, recording, and editing this video,
52:18but I am pretty sure that at
52:2039, Denis Oyengo
52:22is our oldest inclusion.
52:24Capped 82 times by Uganda,
52:26Oyengo has been playing in
52:28South Africa for the last 18 years,
52:30and though he retired from international
52:32football in 2021, he
52:34still plays for a club that keeps
52:36cropping up in this video,
52:38Marmalowari Sundowns, in South
52:40Africa's Betway Premiership.
52:42Zambia. Pat Sundaka.
52:44Pat Sundaka has been
52:46a disappointment at Leicester City, in my view,
52:48following his exceptional returns
52:50at Red Bull Salzburg, but he
52:52still features narrowly ahead of
52:54Lecce's Lamek Banda,
52:56Alfaya's Fashon Sikala, and
52:58Hapoel Birasheva's Kings Kangwa,
53:00as Zambia's star man.
53:02Daka made his Zambia debut back in
53:042015, aged only 16
53:06at the time, and he has since won
53:0848 caps and scored 21 goals
53:10for the Copper Bullets. There are
53:12some great nicknames for African national teams,
53:14aren't there? Who are ranked 87th
53:16in the world? Zanzibar.
53:18Maritiyaya.
53:20As we reach the penultimate inclusion
53:22in this video, I must level
53:24with you, I have no idea
53:26who is the best footballer
53:28from Zanzibar. A semi-autonomous
53:30region within Tanzania,
53:32Zanzibar's national team is CAF,
53:34but not FIFA affiliated, which means
53:36that it doesn't have a world ranking,
53:38they are ineligible to qualify for AFCON
53:40due to rules banning two teams
53:42from one nation, and they very
53:44rarely even play games.
53:46I'm not about to let you down at this
53:48late stage though, so I am throwing
53:50Maritiyaya's name into the hat,
53:52a 28-year-old midfielder
53:54capped 22 times by Tanzania
53:56and 9 times by Zanzibar,
53:58which I think makes him eligible
54:00as per my own rules, although
54:02it is difficult to tell at this stage.
54:04Who plays his club football for Tanzanian
54:06giants Young Africans?
54:08Zimbabwe.
54:10Marshal Maneci. If you've made it
54:12this far without skipping anything,
54:14then quite frankly, you deserve an
54:16all-expenses-paid trip of a lifetime to
54:18Zimbabwe, but unfortunately
54:20I don't own the channel and I don't have
54:22access to resources to facilitate
54:24those kinds of giveaways. Go and
54:26subscribe to Alfie Potsama where,
54:28if he gets big enough, I guarantee you
54:30that he will give away free trips to
54:32Zimbabwe like Mr. Beast.
54:34The final inclusion in this video is
54:36none other than Marshal Maneci,
54:38the main man in the heart of Zimbabwe's
54:40midfield, who has played his club football
54:42for Rom in Ligan since
54:442019. A versatile
54:46and well-rounded midfielder,
54:48Maneci steals the final spot in
54:50this video, narrowly ahead of fellow
54:52Zimbabwe stars Marvellous Nakamba,
54:54who plays for Luton Town,
54:56Tino Kadawe, who plays for Nantes,
54:58and Jordan Zamora, who was
55:00born in Lambeth, and plays for
55:02Udenese. That is it for
55:04today's video. I now need to lie
55:06down and take some deep breaths.
55:08The last time that an Englishman spent
55:10this long talking about Africa was
55:12probably at the Berlin Conference, when
55:14they were deciding how to carve the continent up
55:16with other European powers.
55:18Hopefully the legacy of this video
55:20is a little bit less damaging
55:22than that was. I hope that you enjoyed
55:24it. Hopefully the Asia installment
55:26comes a little bit sooner, and we can
55:28motor on with this series a bit better than
55:30I have up to this point. My apologies.
55:32Thank you all as ever for watching.
55:34Hit the like button if you did enjoy it, let me
55:36know your thoughts down below in the comments, and
55:38any alternative suggestions or players
55:40you feel I may have missed or overlooked,
55:42even if only in terms of honourable mentions.
55:44And of course it goes without saying,
55:46make sure that you are subscribed
55:48both to this channel, HITC7s,
55:50and also my second channel,
55:52Alfie Potts Armour, both of which
55:54should already or should be about
55:56to appear on your screens now,
55:58along with a couple of videos that you might enjoy
56:00watching after this one. You can also
56:02find me on all of the various social media
56:04platforms, should you wish to do so,
56:06via the links in the
56:08video description below. Cheers,
56:10and have a bloody brilliant
56:12day.