Six Ghanaian Players In European Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, which gets underway next week, will offer at least 42 Africans a bigger international platform on which to parade their skills. Footballers from 15 African countries are among the registered squad lists for the group phase of Europe's most prestigious club competition.

Ghana have six players, making a mockery of the country's failure to qualify for next year's African Nations Cup finals.

Ghana's contingent includes midfielder Stephen Appiah of Juventus and Samuel Osei Kuffour, the Bayern Munich defender. Both Juventus and Bayern are among the favourites to lift the Champions League title next May.

Not surprisingly, the reigning African champions Cameroon have six players likely to taste Champions League action.

They include veteran Jacques Songo'o who recently joined Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna as third-choice goalkeeping cover.

Defending champions AC Milan have no African stars on their books but city rivals Inter, who were semi-finalists last year, are hoping for explosive performances from Obafemi Martins.

Martins is one of five Nigerians in line to play in the competition.

Shabani Nonda, the prolific DR Congo striker who plays for French side Monaco, will not be among them. He is recovering from a horrific knee injury that will sideline him for at least eight months.

Africa's UEFA Champions League list:

Anderlecht (Belgium): Aruna Dindane (Ivory Coast)
Bayern Munich (Germany); Samuel Osei Kuffour (Ghana)
Glasgow Celtic (Scotland): Bobo Balde, Mohammed Sylla (both Guinea) Lyon (France): Michael Essien (Ghana), Djila Diarra (Mali)

Group B:

Arsenal (England): Laurent (Cameroon), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine): Badr El Kaddouri (Morocco), Yusuf Atanda (Nigeria)
Inter Milan (Italy): Obafemi Martins (Nigeria), Mohamed Kallon (Sierra Leone)
Lokomotiv Moscow: Jacob Lekgetho (South Africa)

Group C:

AEK Athens (Greece): Kofi Amponsah (Ghana)
Deportivo La Coruna (Spain): Jacques Songo'o (Cameroon), Nouredine Naybet (Morocco)
Monaco (France): Shabani Nonda (DR Congo), Souleymane Camara, Tony Sylva (both Senegal)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands): Edson Silva (Cape Verde Islands)

Group D:

Juventus (Italy): Stephen Appiah (Ghana)

Group E:

Manchester United (England): Eric Djemba Djemba (Cameroon), Quinton Fortune (South Africa)
Panathinaikos (Greece): Joel Epalle (Cameroon), Nasief Morris (South Africa)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany): Serge Branco (Cameroon)

Group F:

Marseille (France): Brahim Hemdani (Algeria), Didier Drogba, Abdoulaye Meite (Ivory Coast), Ahmed Mido Hossam (Egypt), Habib Beye, Sylvain Ndiaye (Senegal)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia): Taribo West (Nigeria)
FC Porto (Portugal): Benni McCarthy (South Africa)

Group G:

Besiktas (Turkey): Ahmed Hassan (Egypt)
Chelsea (England): Geremi Fotso Njitap (Cameroon), Celestine Babayaro (Nigeria)

Group H:

Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands): Anthony Obodai, Abubakari Yakubu (Ghana), Steven Pienaar (South Africa), Hatem Trabelsi (Tunisia)