Top 10 African Goal-Scorers in the Champions League History
On Tuesday, Mohamed Salah became the third African player to score 30 or more goals in the UEFA Champions League, joining Barcelona legend Samuel Eto’o and Chelsea icon Didier Drogba. We take a look at the best African players in the history of the Champions League.
With a brace in Liverpool’s 5-1 victory over Porto on Tuesday, Mohamed Salah
overtook Samuel Eto’o (30 goals) to become the second in the list of
Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history, behind Didier Drogba who scored 44 goals.
While Didier Drogba, Mohamed Salah, and Sadio Mane are Top African goalscorers in Premier League history, the Liverpool duo can still fight their way to Top African goalscorers in the history. However, in total goal-count, they are way behind Cameroonian legend Roger Milla, who is the African highest Goalscorers of All time.
never played in a club competing in the Champions League as he spent most of his career in France, hence he doesn’t make the list of African top goalscorers in the Champions League. Behind Milla in the African highest Goalscorers of all time list is his compatriot, Samuel Eto’o, followed by Zambia legend, Godfrey Chitalu.
Top African Goalscorers in the History of the Champions League
Here, we take a brief look at the careers of Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history, from Didier Drogba to Emmanuel Adebayor, listing them we meet some of the
African top scorers in football history
, as well as meeting unsung heroes like Doumbia and Aboubakar.
10. Emmanuel Adebayor
Nationality
: Togo
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Monaco, Arsenal, Real Madrid
Total Champions League Appearances:
44
Total Champions League goals:
11
Enjoying a nomadic career with Mets, Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur, 10th in the list of Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history is Emmanuel Adebayor
The Togo icon started his Champions League journey with Monaco and was involved in Monaco’s 2003/04 glorious run to the competition’s finals. Despite scoring only one Champions League goal for the French side, Adebayor made a €10m move to Arsenal, where he bagged 8 Champions League goals for the Gunners.
Scoring 97 Premier League goals during his career at Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Crystal Palace, the Togolese is among the
Top African goalscorers in Premier League history
.
The underrated sharpshooter also spent a season on loan at Real Madrid, where he bagged 8 goals for the Los Blancos across all competitions.
9. Michael Essien
Nationality
: Ghana
Clubs represented in the Champions League
: Olympique Lyon, Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid
Total Champions League Appearances
: 76
Total Champions League goals:
11
Although it’s odd to see a defensive midfielder in the list of
Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history
, the Chelsea legend first caught the eyes of the football world when he scored 5 Champions League goals as a midfielder in the 2004/05 season for Olympique Lyon, leading the French side to the quarter-finals of the tournament
The spectacular performance secured Michael Essien an eye-catching €38m move to Stamford Bridge next season.
The Ghanaian legend scored 6 Champions League goals for Chelsea
through 7 seasons before also appearing in the competition for Real Madrid and Milan.
With two Ligue 1 trophies with Lyon, two Premier League, and a UEFA Champions League trophy with Chelsea, Michael Essien is among the most decorated African players in European football.
8. George Weah
Nationality
: Liberia
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Monaco, Paris, AC Milan
Total Champions League Appearances
: 16
Total Champions League goals:
13
Arguably the best African player in football history,
George Weahbecame the first African player to win Ballon d’Or in 1995.
However, the Milan and Paris Saint-Germain legend only played three Champions League competitions. In his debut Champions League season with PSG in the 94/95 season, Weah scored 7 goals in 10 appearances and was handed the competition’s golden boot.
Leading PSG to their first-ever Champions League semi-finals, he made a €6.9m move the season after to the side that beat the Ligue 1 giants there, A.C. Milan.
Despite winning two Serie A titles with Milan, Weah wasn’t able to lift the Champions League despite scoring 4 other goals in his 6 Champions League appearances for the Rossoneri.
7. Vincent Aboubakar
Nationality
: Cameroon
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Porto, Besiktas
Total Champions League Appearances
: 14
Total Champions League goals:
23
The current
Al-Nassr
striker ranks 7th in the list of Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history. The 29-year-old started his European journey when he joined Porto from FC Lorient on a €12.3m deal in 2014 and scored three goals in his 4 Champions League appearances for the Portuguese side.
Scoring 11 Champions League goals for Porto, the Cameroonian also scored three more when he spent a season on loan at Turkish Super lig side, Besiktas in the 16/17 season, the side he later joined permanently in 2020.
With a total of 128 goals in all competitions during his career, at the age of 29, Vincent Aboubakar is among the unsung heroes of African football.
6. Seydou Doumbia
Nationality
: Ivory Coast
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
CSKA Moscow, Basel, Sporting CP
Total Champions League Appearances
: 15
Total Champions League goals:
31
Currently a free agent, the 33-year-old striker, who represented Ivory Coast 37 times, emerged as a promising talent during his spell with BSC Young Boys.
After a €11m move to
CSKA Moscow
in 2010, the Ivorian started his Champions League account in style as he scored five goals in his debut Champions League season in 2011/12 season.
Scoring 13 Champions League goals for CSKA, Doumbia added two more goals during his later career with FC Basel and Sporting.
However, a failed move to Roma in 2015 shadowed the Ivorian’s career, but with 210 goals during his nomadic career, Doumbia is among the African top scorers in football history.
5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Nationality
: Gabon
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Borussia Dortmund
Total Champions League Appearances
: 15
Total Champions League goals:
32
Although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wasn’t able to make a Champions League appearance for Arsenal since his €63.7m move from Dortmund, thanks to his spell with the Dortmund, the 32-year-old ranks 5 in the list of
Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history
as he bagged 15 goals in his 32 Champions League appearances for Dortmund.
Starting his career with AC Milan’s youth academy, the current Arsenal skipper never made an appearance for the Rossoneri as he found his fortune playing in Ligue 1 with St. Ettiene. After a 2013 move to Borussia Dortmund in Germany, the Gabonese flourished in the Champions League and Bundesliga with several successful seasons and a Golden Boot, bagging a total of 15 Champions League goals with the Bundesliga giants.
4. Sadio Mane
Nationality
: Senegal
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Liverpool
Total Champions League Appearances
: 20
Total Champions League goals:
44
A €41.2m move from Southampton started Sadio Mane’s Champions League journey with Liverpool as he was among the key players who led Liverpool to two Champions League finals and lifted the trophy in 2019.
Scoring 10 goals in his Champions League debut season in 2017/18, the 29-year-old Senegalese has scored 20 goals in his total 44 Champions League appearances for the Reds.
also made it to the UEFA 2019 Team of the Year as well as the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season for the same season.
The Senegalese forward has quite a full trophy cabinet thanks to his time at RB Salzburg and Liverpool. He has won 2 Austrian league titles, 2 Austrian (UNIQA OFB) Cups, the English Premier League, a Champions League trophy, a FIFA Club World Cup and a UEFA Supercup. He has also earned individual honors and accolades, as he was named the 2019 African Footballer of the Year in the same season that he became the Premier League top-scorer with 22 goals.
3. Samuel Eto'o
Nationality
: Cameroon
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Real Madrid, Mallorca, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea
Total Champions League Appearances
: 30
Total Champions League goals:
78
Second in the list of
Top African goalscorers in the history
Samuel Eto’o is perhaps among the very best players of the competition as he is the most decorated player on the list.
Moving to Real Madrid from the Kadji Sports Academy at the age of 15, the Cameroonian made his La Liga debut on 5 December 1998 under head coach Guus Hiddink at the age of 17.
Failing to score in his three Champions League appearances for the Los Blancos, Eto’o made a permanent move to RCD Mallorca in 2000, where he scored his first Champions League goal. Achieving himself a €27m move to Barcelona, the Cameroonian won Champions League twice in his 6-year career at the Blaugrana, scoring 16 Champions League goals.
Samuel Eto’o became the most decorated African player in the Champions League (3) as he led Inter to the trophy in 2010. With 6 goals for Inter and 3 more for Chelsea, Samuel Eto’o has scored 30 goals in his 78 Champions League appearances.
2. Mohamed Salah
Nationality
: Egypt
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Basel, Chelsea, Roma, Liverpool
Total Champions League Appearances
: 31
Total Champions League goals:
60
Rising up in the order of Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history is Liverpool's Egyptian king, Mohamed Salah. The two-time African Footballer of the Year has represented four teams in Europe's elite club competition, and as well as chasing Didier Drogba in the list of Top African goalscorers in Premier League history with two goals, he’s 13 goals apart from the Ivorian’s record in the Champions League as well.
Stealing the headlines at FC Basel, where he scored two Champions League goals as a teenager, the Egyptian couldn’t make the difference at Chelsea as he joined Roma as a Chelsea flop in 2016 after a couple of loan moves.
Adding 1 goal to his Champions League tally with the Giallorossi,
the Pharaohmade a €42m move to Anfield a year later, where he led the Reds to the Champions League finals in his debut season and lifted the trophy in 2019.
With 28 Champions League goals for the Reds,
Mohamed Salah is now only the second-highest scoring African in the history of the tournament with a total of 31 goals in 60 appearances.
Mohamed Salah has quite a full trophy cabinet for himself, with a number of individual and collective honors and trophies shining bright on his cabinet. He has won two Premier League titles, an EFL Cup, a Champions League trophy, 2 Swiss Super League titles, a UEFA Supercup trophy, and a FIFA Club World Cup. He is also the two-time proud winner of the African Footballer of the Year award, as he got to be the Premier League’s top scorer for two consecutive seasons.
1. Didier Drogba
Nationality
: Ivory Coast
Clubs represented in the Champions League:
Marseille, Chelsea, Galatasaray
Total Champions League Appearances
: 44
Total Champions League goals:
92
And finally, Chelsea's Ivorian king tops the list of Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history. Best known for his late equalizer in the 2012 Champions League final for Chelsea against Bayern Munich, where he eventually won the title for the Blues, Didier Drogba is the 3rd
African highest goalscorers of all time
and the top African goalscorer in the history of Champions League
Tito made his professional debut for Le Mans UC 72 and started his Champions League journey with Olympique de Marseille, where he scored 5 Champions League goals in 6 appearances in his debut season.
That was enough to secure Tito a record €38.5m move to Chelsea, becoming the most expensive Ivorian player in history.
Leading Chelsea to two Champions League finals, the Ivorian was essential in Chelsea’s first Champions League triumph in their history in 2012 and went on to score 36 Champions League goals for the Blues.
With another 3 goals during his time with Galatasaray, the Ivorian has scored 44 goals in 92 Champions League appearances throughout his career,
the best African in the history of the competition, the 15th in the all-time chart.
Drogba won the Premier League title on three occasions, four FA Cups, two Football League Cups, two FA Community Shield titles, and one UEFA Champions League title with the Blues.
The African Kingalso won one Supr Lig, one Turkish Cup, and the 2013 Turkish Super Cup with Galatasaray.
Now that you found out about the
Top 10 African goal-scorers in the Champions League history
, you might like to find more about African football in the previous exclusive articles of Sportmob.
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