African Players in the Top European Leagues

These days, it seems like almost every club match in Europe features African players playing in key roles. It's obvious that Africa is a hotbed of soccer talent in the modern game and I wanted to find out more about the players that are currently playing in the top leagues in Europe. Here's what I found:


African Players in Each League:

114 - France Ligue 1
51 - English Premier League
31 - Portuguese Liga
28 - German Bundesliga
27 - Dutch Eredevisie
16 - Spain La Liga
10 - Italy Serie A


African Countries with 10 or more Players in Top European Leagues:

34 - Senegal
32 - Cameroon
29 - Morocco
28 - Nigeria
26 - Ivory Coast
23 - Ghana
19 - Mali
13 - Algeria
10 - Tunisia


African Countries with 2 or less players in Top European Leagues:

2 - Togo, Zambia, Kenya, Equitorial Guinea, Benin
1 - Burundi, Gabon, Namibia, Zimbabwe


Clubs With the Most African Players by League:

11 - France: Nice and Metz
6 - Germany: Hamburg
5 - England: Newcastle and Portsmouth
5 - Portugal: Académica and Boavista
4 - Holland: Heracles Almelo
3 - Spain: Sevilla
2 - Italy: Parma and Udinese


Most Represented Nations in each League:

France - 20 from Senegal
Holland - 13 from Morocco
England - 8 from Nigeria
Portugal - 6 from Angola and Cape Verde
Germany - 5 from South Africa
Spain - 4 from Cameroon
Italy - 2 from Ghana and Nigeria


By Position:

MF - 106 - 38%
FW - 90 - 32%
DF - 75 - 27%
GK - 8 - 3%