- On Saturday, May 26, 2018, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane will join 19 African players to become the 20th that have made it to the Champions League finals.
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Though 19 Africans have won the Champions League, only 15 of them appeared in the final matches.
However, the players who didn’t play in the finals appeared at some point during their club’s respective Champions League-winning campaign to earn their medal.
Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1983/1984 season became the first African player from Zimbabwe to win the Champions league. He was Liverpool’s goalkeeper. In the same vein, in 2004/2005 season, Djimi Traore from Mali became the second African to play for Liverpool at the Champions League final and he also won the trophy.
On Saturday, May 26, 2018, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane will join 19 African players to become the 20th that have made it to the Champions League finals.
Interestingly, the Senegalese will go down in history as the first from his country, the third African to play for Liverpool at the Champions League final.
Here are the 19 African players, who have won the Champions league in three decades.
Samuel Eto’o
Years: 2006, 2009, 2010
Clubs: FC Barcelona, Inter Milan
Seydou Keita
Years: (2009 and 2011
Club: Catalan giants
Didier Drogba
Year: 2012
Club: Chelsea
Yaya Toure
Year: 2009
Club: FC Barcelona
Benni McCarthy
Yea: 2004
Club: FC Porto
Samuel Kuffour
Year: 2000/2001 season
Club: Bayern Munich
John Mikel Obi
Year: 2011/2012 season
Club: Chelsea FC
Sulley Muntari
Year: 2009/2010 season
Club: Inter Milan
Salomon Kalou
Year: 2011/2012 season
Club: Chelsea FC
Djimi Traore
Year: 2004/2005 season
Club: Liverpool
Rabah Madjer
Year: 1986/1987 season
Club: FC Porto
Bruce Grobbelaar
Year: 1983/1984 season
Club: Liverpool
Abedi Pele Ayew
Year: 1992/1993 season
Club: Olympique Marseille
Finidi George
Year: 1994/1995 season
Club: Ajax Amsterdam
Kanu Nwankwo
Year: 1994/1995 season
Club: Ajax Amsterdam
These 5 players didn’t play at the finals for their teams but won the Champions League alongside their teams.
Michael Essien
Year: 2012
Club: Chelsea
McDonald Mariga
Year: 2010
Club: Inter Milan
Ibrahim Tanko
Year: 1997
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Geremi Njitap
Years: 2000 and 2002
Club: Real Madrid
Source: News Agencies
