African football has made its mark on the world game over the last decade, with countless great players coming from the continent, playing in some of Europe’s best teams and improving the quality of play throughout Africa.

An African team may not have won the World Cup yet, but players from the continent are champions throughout European leagues and they have contributed a great deal to the game. Here are eleven of the best Africans over the last ten years…

4-3-3

Goalkeeper

Essam El-Hadary (Egypt)

Defence

Kolo Touré (Ivory Coast)

Rigobert Song (Cameroon)

Sammy Kuffour (Ghana)
The Ghanaian defender was a constant in the UEFA Champions League during his time at German club Bayern Munich and he holds the record for the African with the most appearances in the competition, using his physical strength to cause strikers problems. A very successful stint in Germany allowed him to win the Champions League and Intercontinental Cup in 2001, along with four Bundesliga titles, three German Cups and two German League Cups since the turn of the century.

In the Ghana national team Kuffour was a mainstay for most of the last decade, captaining the side on many occasions, until the 2006 World Cup in Germany where he ended his international career. On 12 January 2007, the Confederation of African Football voted Kuffour as a member of the Top 30 African Players of All-Time.

Hatem Trabelsi (Tunisia)

Midfield

Michael Essien (Ghana)
Every team needs a holding midfielder who does the dirty work in the middle of the park before releasing the attacking players so that they can push forward in search of goals. Few in world football have done this kind of job as well as Michael Essien over the last decade, and the Ghanaian gets involved in the attacking side of things as well. At club level, Essien was successful at Lyon, winning two Ligue 1 titles before moving on to Chelsea, where he has been an important piece of the midfield in the formations of various coaches through the years.

He has won the Premier League title in 2006, as well as two FA Cups in 2007 and 2009. With Ghana Essien has been an important figure, and due in part to his fine midfield work, they were the only African team to reach the second round of the 2006 World Cup.

Mohamed Aboutrika (Egypt)

Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria)

Attack

Emmanual Adebayor (Togo)

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)

Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)