Africa has been a source of great talents in recent decades providing many football legends who reached their peak performance in one of Europe’s top clubs.

Can you recall Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, who played in one of Liverpool’s finest teams during the 1980s, Ivorian Didier Drogba, winning three EPL titles and the UCL with Chelsea or Samuel Eto’o from Cameroon, a four-time African Footballer of the Year? There is no doubt that, amongst other players currently active in Europe, the likes of Liverpool’s Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Manchester City’s Algerian Riyad Mahrez or Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly playing for Napoli will join such an all-time top African players list. In addition, the next generation is already knocking on the door, with players like PSG’s Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi, Bayer Leverkusen‘s Burkina Faso centre-back Edmond Tapsoba or Napoli’s Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen all below 23 years of age.

The next calendar year provides a great stage for African star players to showcase their talents: in January-February, the Africa Cup of Nations will see 24 national teams compete in Cameroon, while five African countries will be eligible to participate at the World Cup in Qatar.

In order to assess the significance of African footballers in Europe, we looked at 11 prominent top tier leagues* and their African nationals. It is important to note that the primary nationality was the key criteria; players of African origin who play for non-African national adult teams are excluded from the analysis.

Currently, more than 500 African footballers are contracted by these clubs’ first teams in the 11 leagues, which constitutes approximately 6% of their total player base. Unsurprisingly, most of them come from West-African countries.