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Tuesday Trivia is a weekly column that presents relevant sporting facts. With the Champions League set to resume today, here are some notable facts and stats about African participation in Europe's elite club competition.
The knockout stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League kicks off today.
Even with the field now whittled down to 16 teams, there remains a strong African interest in this season’s edition, with the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Salah, Achraf Hakimi and Victor Osimhen, to name a few, still in play.
Historically, Africa has made quite the footprint on the landscape of Europe’s premier club competition. Zimbabwe goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar – he of the spaghetti legs – was the continent’s first winner as far back as 1984, and following the rebranding of the competition in 1992, Daniel Amokachi famously scored the first Group Stage goal of the competition’s modern iteration.
Here is some trivia around Africa’s participation in the UEFA Champions League. (N.B: These stats take qualifying stages into account.)
- 2004 – The first time two African players featured in a Champions League final on opposing sides. Both Shabani Nonda (Monaco) and Benni McCarthy (Porto) were second-half substitutes as Porto defeated Monaco 3-0 and launched the legend of Jose Mourinho.
- 94 – No African player has made more appearances than Didier Drogba’s 94. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is within seven of the Cote d’Ivoire legend, however, but will only equal Drogba if Liverpool reach this year’s final in Istanbul and he plays every match.
- 3 – The number of Nigerian players who have won the Champions League. Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George won with Ajax in 1995, defeating AC Milan in the final, while Mikel John Obi won with Chelsea in dramatic circumstances against Bayern Munich in 2012.
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- 30 – The number of different African players who have featured in a Champions League final. Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Samuel Eto’o jointly hold the record for the most final participations, with three each.
- Rabah Madjer – The first African player to score in a Champions League/European Cup final. The Algerian’s exquisite backheel pulled Porto level in their 1987 final against Bayern Munich, before substitute Juary struck three minutes later to turn the game around and win the Dragons their first-ever European title.
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- Samuel Eto’o – The only African to play in (and win) back-to-back finals for two different clubs. Eto’o played – and scored – in the 2009 final for Barcelona against Bayern Munich, and also helped Inter to victory over Bayern Munich in the 2010 final.
- 47 – While Salah lags Drogba in the appearance stakes, the Egypt international is the continent’s highest goalscorer in the Champions League, with 47. This is three better than Drogba, and a staggering 14 more than Samuel Eto’o.
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- Yakubu – Not only is Yakubu Aiyegbeni one of only two Nigerians (the other being Victor Boniface Okoh) to score a Champions League hat-trick (a feat achieved in Maccabi Hiafa’s 3-0 win over Olympiacos in 2002), he is one of only four Nigerians to score on their Champions League debut. The others are Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Dennis and Emmanuel Emenike.
- 0.583 – Of Africa’s ten highest Champions League goalscorers, George Weah’s has the best goals per game ratio. The 1995 World Footballer of the Year scored 14 goals in 22 appearances – an average of 0.636 goals per game. The player with the second-best ratio, however, may come as a surprise. It is Cameroon international Vincent Aboubakar, who has scored 14 Champions League goals in a modest 24 appearances. That’s 0.583 goals per game, ahead of the likes of Salah (0.54), Drogba (0.468) and Eto’o (0.402).
- 10 – No Nigerian player has scored more Champions League goals than Obafemi Martins’ 10.
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