In a comprehensive list like this, it was inevitable that some celebrated names were going to miss out by the tiniest of margins. A frustratingly common problem I encountered when compiling the list was insufficient evidence for to bring some players style of play and achievements truly into life - a region I particularly struggled with was East Africa. This is where we need your help: we want everything from video footage of these players to trusted accounts of those who saw them play to help us improve the quality of this list. We do intend to lengthen this list and revise it intermittently, so feel free to suggest names of others who missed out or those who should be removed (with reasoning and taking the criteria into account).

Those who narrowly missed out:

Emmanuel Adebayor – Inconsistency combined with a body of work not large enough to compete realistically with some of the names on the list.

Daniel Amokachi – Not quite hitting the heights he was expected to at Everton.

Emmanuel Amuneke – Massive impact but still a sniff of what-could-have-been after injury cut his career short.

Mohamed Ben Rehaiem (Hamadi Agrebi) – Not enough glory at club level came with his magnificence on the ball.

Ali Bencheikh – Algeria’s golden generation’s failure to register a major title slightly costing him.

Mustapha Dahleb – Injury-ravaged career and lack of trophies meant some less talented names eclipsed him in the list.

Essam El Hadary – Formidable winning record with Ah Ahly and Egypt but Egypt’s failure to qualify for a World Cup and his performances when they have met the ‘big’ national teams.

Emmanuel Kunde – Certainly one of the best liberos to ever come out of Africa, but impact wasn’t sufficient to put him into the Top 60.

Shabani Nonda – Understated player when we speak of the great African strikers of the 2000s, but despite a good goalscoring record it was not a good enough record to compete with the strikers on the list.

Jacques Songo’o  – Misfortune of having to replace two great keepers in Joseph-Antoine Bell and Thomas N’kono meant he couldn’t make the international impact. Also inconsistency at club level despite winning the Zamora trophy in 1995/1996 at Deportivo.

Taribo West – Spectacular downward spiral after leaving Inter Milan.

Uche Ukechukwu – Glowing praise from Fenerbahce fans but didn’t win enough to eclipse the defenders on the list.

 

Insufficient Evidence

Taher Abouzaid

Hassan Akesbi

Paul Bonga Bonga

Tshimenu Bwanga

Papa Camara

Ernest Ebongue

Hassan El-Shazly

Ali Fergani

Ali Gargarin

Muda Lawal

Emile M’Bouh

Francois M’Pele

Paul Moukila

Eugene N’Jo Lea

Ahmed Oudjani

Cherif Oudjani

Mohammed Polo

Boubacar Sarr

Hassan Shehata

Cherif Souleymane

Bengally Sylla

Jean-Pierre Tokoto

Ibrahim Youssef

 

Honorable Mentions

Stephen Appiah

Sadok Attouga

Khaled Badra

Teslim “Thunder” Balogun

Tedj Bansaoula

Mohamed Barakat

Jules Bocande

Papa Bouba Diop

Mbark Boussoufa

Christian Chukwu

El Hadji Diouf

Mustafa El Haddaoui

Pascal Feindouno

Mark Fish

Flavio

Ibrahim Hassan

Victor Ikpeba

Eugene Kabongo

Bonaventure Kalou

Idriss Kameni

Andre Kana-Biyik

Abdul-Kader Keita

Raymond Kalla

Doctor Khumalo

Noureddine Kourichi

Temime Lahzami

Emile Mbouh

Djamel Menad

Roger Mendy

Robert Mensah

Abdelkrim Merry

Tresor Mputu

Peter Ndlovu

Mamadou Niang

Peter Odemwingie

Samuel  Opoku N’Ti

Steven Pienaar

Peter Rufai

Adel Sellimi

Ahmed Shoubair

Ibrahim Sunday

Taye Taiwo

Joel Tiehi

Marc Vivien-Foe

Pierre Wome

Didier Zokora