Ghana has sent footballers to the Champions League, the World Cup and the biggest club grounds in Europe since the 1980s. Narrowing the list to ten is an argument waiting to happen. These are the ten who left the deepest marks.
The ten
1
Ghana's greatest footballer, full stop. Three consecutive African Footballer of the Year awards. A Champions League winner with Marseille in 1993. The playmaker who first showed the continent what a Ghanaian could do at the highest level of European club football. Read full profile →
2
The Leeds United striker whose long-range goals in 1995 remain among the most replayed in Premier League history. He also starred for Frankfurt and Hamburg, one of the most complete Ghanaian forwards Europe has seen. Read full profile →
3
Ghana's all-time top scorer with 51 international goals. His penalty miss against Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup was sport at its cruelest, but his career at Sunderland and across the Gulf showed a forward of genuine class. Read full profile →
4
Chelsea's Bison, a central midfielder of extraordinary physicality who won the Champions League in 2012. At his peak in the Premier League he was one of the most feared midfield forces in the world. Read full profile →
5
The Juventus and Fenerbahce captain who led Ghana to their first World Cup in 2006. His composure and leadership in that tournament changed how African football was perceived internationally. Read full profile →
6
Champions League winner with Inter in 2010 as part of Mourinho's treble side. A combative midfielder who played at the top level for over fifteen years and represented Ghana at three World Cups. Read full profile →
7
The Bayern Munich centre-back who won the Champions League in 2001 and spent a decade as one of the finest defenders in German football. His tears on the Nou Camp turf in 1999 remain one of football's most memorable images. Read full profile →
8
Six consecutive Serie A titles at Juventus. A left-back of exceptional technical quality who could operate across the midfield, indispensable to one of Europe's best club sides for most of a decade. Read full profile →
9
The current Black Stars captain whose decade-plus in the Premier League with Crystal Palace has demonstrated a professionalism, and durability, that his father Abedi Pele would recognise. Read full profile →
10
The wiry Ajax and Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder who was Ghana's most dynamic creative force in the 2000s. His energy and technical ability made him the engine of a Black Stars side that was shaping into a genuine tournament force. Read full profile →
The case for Abedi Pele
This list is not close at number one. Abedi Ayew, known the world over as Abedi Pele, won the African Footballer of the Year award in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He played alongside Diego Maradona at Marseille. He helped win the club its first (and still only) European Cup. And he did all of it as a Ghanaian playing in a European league when that was a genuinely unusual thing to do.
His sons Jordan and Andre both play professionally in Europe. His influence on the Ghanaian game is impossible to overstate.
Explore more
- The full Rich List, always-current rankings across every category.
- Browse all profiles, the complete Agye Din database.
- All Ghanaian footballer profiles