Picking an African Dream Team who played in France

Vincent Enyeama

With 101 caps for the Nigeria national team, Enyeama is a veritable legend in his homeland, and one of the finest African goalkeepers in history.

He also made his mark in French football after arriving at LOSC Lille in 2011 following a title-winning spell with Hapoel Tel Aviv.

In 2013, the same year he won the Africa Cup of Nations title with Nigeria, Enyeama went 1062 minutes without conceding in Ligue 1, going within 114 minutes of breaking Gaetan Huard’s 20-year record.

Serge Aurier

In light of his recent struggles at Tottenham Hotspur, it’s become easy to forget just what an exceptional talent Aurier was during his time in French football…at least until disciplinary issues undermined his time at Paris Saint-Germain.

He was twice a French champion, excelled in the Champions League, and was named in the UNFP Team of the Season on two occasions.

It remains to be seen whether the 27-year-old Nations Cup winner can rediscover the form he enjoyed earlier in his career.

Rigobert Song

‘Tonton’ Rigobert captained Cameroon’s magnificent generation of the turn of the century, as the Indomitable Lions clinched the continental crown in 2000 and 2002, and also represented the Central Africans at four World Cups.

His club career didn’t truly match these heights, even though Song did win two Turkish titles with Galatasaray and a Turkish Cup with Trabzonspor.

He flopped at Liverpool, but was a Coupe de la Ligue winner at the start of his career with FC Metz.

Yaya Toure

Slipping into our Africans in Ligue 1 dream team in the heart of the defence, Toure was one of the founding fathers of the modern Manchester City and also won two Champions Leagues and two Spanish titles with Barcelona.

Before becoming one of African football’s superstars, he spent a season with AS Monaco in 2006-07, having signed for the Club of the Principality on the back of the 2006 World Cup.

Things didn’t work out in France, at least not initially, although Toure did make a big contribution late in the campaign as Monaco pulled clear of the dropzone.

His performances attracted the interest of Barca, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Taye Taiwo

During six years in French football with Olympique de Marseille, Taiwo enjoyed the greatest moments of his career—notably winning the title in 2010.

Arguably, Taiwo and OM should have had more domestic championships, and finished runners-up in the league on three occasions during his time in Provence.

Since leaving France for AC Milan in 2011, the powerful left-back struggled to replicate his earlier successes, and is currently in Finland with RoPS.

Jay-Jay Okocha

The exquisitely talented Okocha joined Paris Saint-Germain for £14 million which was, at the time, the most that had ever been spent on an African player.

He left having only accumulated two minor honours, but Nigeria fans will argue—to this day—that Okocha played a vital role in mentoring a young wonderkid named Ronaldinho!

Beyond the Parc des Princes, Okocha left an indelible mark on the Premier League with Bolton Wanderers, and was a Nations Cup winner with the Super Eagles in 1994.

Michael Essien

The Bison won the first two of his four domestic championships in France, with Lyon, where he was a Ligue 1 champion in 2004 and 2005 as part of a magnificent OL side.

He transferred that success to the Premier League, where he’d clinch the title in 2006 and 2010. There were plenty of other successes at Stamford Bridge—notably four FA Cups and the 2012 Champions League—but a litany of injuries steadily slowed the powerhouse’s progress.

He’d go onto enjoy stints with AC Milan and Real Madrid, and is currently with Azeri side FK Sabail.

Abedi Pele

Perhaps Ghana’s greatest player, Pele was a superstar in France, with Olympique de Marseille, winning the Champions League in 1993, two years after he was a defeated finalist.

He won three French titles, all with OM, although the last of this trio was won in controversial style.

The forward—the father of current Black Stars Andre and Jordan Ayew—was an Afcon champion with Ghana in 1982, and was named African Footballer of the Year on three occasions.

Roger Milla

It would be a mistake to honour Milla merely for his contribution to two Cameroonian World Cup campaigns, in 1990 and 1994, even though obviously, these performances shape his legacy.

At the first tournament, in Italy, 38-year-old Milla scored four goals as the Indomitable Lions reached the quarter-finals, before becoming the tournament’s oldest goalscorer in the United States four years later.

However, these achievements came at the end of a glittering international career in which he twice won the Africa Cup of Nations, twice won the tournament’s Golden Boot, and was the Player of the Tournament in 1986.

At club level, he won a handful of French Cups with AS Monaco and SC Bastia, and this two-time African Footballer of the Year was also named, by Caf, as the African Player of the Century.

Didier Drogba

Despite Drogba’s international struggles with the Ivory Coast, he nonetheless represented the national side at three World Cups, and was top scorer at the 2010 Nations Cup.

He remains the Elephants’ all-time top scorer, but his achievements for Chelsea are what truly give him such a prominent spot in this list.

The two-time African Footballer of the Year—he made the podium on a further six occasions—is arguably the Blues’ greatest player, and enjoyed six years in French football before moving to Stamford Bridge.

He almost single-handedly dragged Chelsea to the Champions League in 2012, and is the club’s fourth highest goalscorer of all time.

The 42-year-old is the only player to score in four FA Cup finals, and also won four Premier League titles with the Pensioners.

George Weah

The current Liberia President was a French champion with Paris Saint-Germain, before going on to clinch two Serie As with AC Milan and an FA Cup with Chelsea.

Expectedly, his Liberia side weren’t able to leverage his star power into silverware, although they did qualify for two Afcons.

Weah was named African Footballer of the Year twice, and remains the only African player to win the Ballon d’Or.