OUT OF AFRICA

There has been an explosion of African footballers into the European football market in the past few decades and today it is commonplace for most teams to have a player from the continent in their squad. But the man who broke the mould in the Premier League was Zimbabwean Peter Ndlovu 30 years ago.  

- Nick Said

It was not long ago that African players in European leagues was a rarity and only a few graced the fields of what is seen as the epicentre of global football.

The first was a very long time ago Ghana-born goalkeeper Arthur Wharton turned out for the English side Preston North End in 1886 and was part of their team that won the Football League title two years later without losing a game.

But for the next 100 years or so, players from the continent were a rarity in Europe, though the likes of South African Albert Johanneson, recognised as the first African to play in an FA Cup final when he turned out for Leeds United in 1965, left their mark.

It was only in the Premier League era, some 30 years ago, that things really began to change.

One of the first footballers from what had been a trickle, but later became a flood from the continent was Zimbabwean Peter Ndlovu, who was a pioneer of sorts when he joined Coventry City in 1991.

Compatriot Bruce Grobbelaar had played at Liverpool prior to that, but opportunities for black African players were severely limited and Ndlovu laid the path for others, with some 300 African players having now followed him to England alone.