Number of African footballers in European leagues exceeds 500

After Senegalese Sadio Mané's magnificent performance for Liverpool, Salah's Egypt gave his country its first Africa Cup of Nations championship in history, eyes turned to Senegal and other West African countries.

In the final of Africa's championship (AFCON), Mané faced Egyptian striker and Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah. Both are ranked as Africa's most valuable players in the KPMG report.

KPMG firm's figures show that there are more than 500 African footballers in European leagues, excluding Mane and Salah. When other non-European leagues such as the Middle East and China are taken into account, the number of players playing abroad is much higher.

West Africa dominates European football leagues

African footballers make up approximately 6% of the total player base of clubs in European leagues. Most of these footballers come from West African countries.

Senegal, Morocco and Nigeria are the countries that train the most players in European leagues with 62, 55 and 54 players respectively as of November 23, 2021.

Ivory Coast (50), Ghana (46), Algeria (32), Mali (32), Cameroon (28), Democratic Republic of Congo (23) and Guinea (13), other West African countries.

After the recently completed AFCON, more African players who participated in the tournament are expected to be signed by overseas clubs.

Leagues with the Most African Footballers

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