Did You Know 14 Teams With Players Of African Origins In 2022 World Cup

There are Fourteen teams qualified for the World Cup have at least one player of African origin in their squad. There are 136 soccer players at Qatar representing countries other than the ones in which they were born., most of them being from Africa. This isn’t a new trend. Many earlier players have turned out in World Cups for countries other than their places of birth. Eusebio, for example is a Portuguese great and the top scorer at the 1966 edition, was born in Mozambique. These players of African descent who are unfortunately playing for other countries, for various reasons.

The 2022 World Cup, which is hosted by tiny country Qatar has astonishing 16% of players have crossed borders to pursue their dream. Of those 75 players from the continent of Africa. Germany, France, Qatar, Belgium, Switzerland and Portugal are those who have the most. There are many African teams who would have been among favorites now, or who would qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, just if some of those players choose to play for their country of origin.

This doesn’t mean all players were actually born in Africa, France has no more than two players in team were born in Africa, and the same pattern holds for other European teams and Canada. England and the USA have no Africa-born players. Timothy Weah, the American forward, son of the Liberian president and soccer idol George Weah, was born in New York City. 

Still, the action on the field at Qatar 2022 bears a strong imprint of African migration. France’s Kylian Mbappe, one of the tournament’s best scorers and early contender for best player, was born to a Cameroonian father, as was his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. Cody Gakpo, another top scorer from the Netherlands, was born to a Togolese father. The tournament’s youngest player, 18-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko, plays for Germany but was born in Cameroon.

The stories of how African players or their families got to the other side of the world are not always so stereotypical as one might imagine. The world cup, besides a month of football, is also a way to find out about how humans move through the world.

One of the most talked about stories in this tournament is that of Breel Embolo, who was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, but represents the Swiss national team and refused to celebrate after scoring against his country of birth last week. Embolo scored the only goal in the 1-0 Switzerland victory. It was the first goal he ever scored in a world cup, and the video of it went viral. But it wasn’t because of his technique, it was because he refused to celebrate. So when he scored for his adopted country against Cameroon, he decided to stop and hold his arms up while his teammates celebrated around him.

As stated on the ongoing 2022 World Cup in Qatar, quite a number of African players were seen representing non-African countries. Here are the players who represent non African countries, with some impactful players

Let’s begin.

GROUP A
QATAR

Algeria/Morocco: Karim Boudiaf

Algeria: Boualem Kouki

Cape Verde: Pedro Miguel Carvalho “Ro-Ro

Egypt: Ahmed Alaaldin

Ghana: Mohammed Muntari

Sudan: Meshaal Barsham, Musab Khedar, Abdulaziz, Assim Madibo, Almoez Ali

NETHERLANDS

Ivory Coast: Nathan Aké

Ghana: Jeremie Frimpong, Memphis Depay

Ghana/Togo: Cody Gakpo

GROUP B
ENGLAND

Nigeria: Bukayo Saka

WALES

Angola: Ben Cabango

Ghana: Ethan Ampadu

Sierra Leone: Sorba Thomas

UNITED STATES

Ghana: Yunus Musah

Liberia: Haji Wright, Timothy Weah

GROUP D
AUSTRALIA

South Africa: Keanu Baccus

South Sudan: Garang Kuol, Awer Mabil

DENMARK

Gambia: Alexander Bah

Tanzania: Yussuf Poulsen

FRANCE

Angola/Congo: Eduardo Camavinga

Eduardo Camavinga is a professional footballer who plays for the France national team. He is a midfielder for La Liga clubside Real Madrid. He was born in a refugee camp in Angola to Congolese parents but grew up in France.

Algeria: Karim Benzema

Algeria/Cameroon: Kylian Mbappé

Benin: Jules Koundé

Cameroon: Aurélien Tchouameni, William Saliba

Guinea-Bissau: Dayot Upamecano

Mali: Ibrahim Konaté, Youssouf Fofana

Morocco: Mattéo Guendouzi

DR Congo: Steve Mandanda, Randal Kolo Muani, Axel Disasi

Senegal/Mali/Mauritania: Ousmane Dembélé

GROUP E
GERMANY

Burundi: Thilo Kherer

Cameroon: Armel Bella-Kotchap, Youssoufa Moukoko

Ivory Coast: Serge Gnabry

Nigeria: Jamal Musiala

Senegal: Leroy Sané

Sierra Leone: Antonio Rüdiger

SPAIN

Guinea-Bissau: Ansu Fati

The 20-year-old plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He was born in Guinea-Bissau but chose to represent the Spain national team after gaining citizenship.

Ghana: Nico Williams

Guinea: Alejandro Balde

GROUP F
BELGIUM

Ghana: Jeremy Doku

Morocco/DR Congo: Loïs Openda

DR Congo: Romélu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans, Michy Batshuayi

Senegal/Cameroon: Amadou Onana

CANADA

Ivory Coast: Ismaël Koné

Ghana: Richie Laryea

Liberia: Alphonso Davies

Nigeria: Ike Ugbo, Samuel Adekugbe

GROUP G
SWITZERLAND

Cameroon: Breel Embolo

Cape Verde: Edimilson Fernandes

Nigeria: Manuel Akanji, Noah Okafor

Senegal: Djibril Sow

South Sudan/Congo: Denis Zakaria

GROUP H
PORTUGAL

Angola: Nuno Mendes, William Carvalho, Joao Mario, Rafael Leao

Guinea-Bissau: Danilo Pereira