Over the last few decades, Africa has produced some world-class football players and can be rightly considered the soccer continent of the future. The last twenty years witnessed rich talent from Africa moving to clubs in Europe and showing superb skills in international football competitions. These players bring something special to European football, presenting an energy and flair that are uniquely African.
West Africa is the region that has produced the finest talents, with Cameroon and Nigeria featuring some of the legendary players of the 1990s. Roger Milla, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Samuel Osei-Kuffuor are names that football fans will never forget. In the early 2000s, the progress continued with Senegal offering the world some of the best football talents like international team captain Bouna Coundoul. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana came into the scene most recently, introducing young players like Abdul Razak and Christian Atsu.
Arsene Wenger, current manager of Arsenal, is a specialist when it comes to identifying young football talent. He has pointed out that West Africa is the region of the continent that has been offering exceptional soccer players. Historically speaking, Africa has provided the soccer world with stars such as Thomas Nkono, arguably one of the best African goalkeepers of all time and Hossam Hassan, one of the most capped African players with 169 international matches and 69 goals.
With the competitive nature of the sport and the amount of marketing that surrounds it, it’s not unusual that some of the highest paid footballers in the world are from Africa. The continent continues to surprise the world with football talent, and as the 2014 FIFA World Cup approaches, we may still be in for more surprises. Below is a list 10 of the highest-paid African soccer players this year.
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