Yaya Toure Was Right about Africans Not Being Appreciated.

Last week, Manchester City midfielder and Ivory Coast International Yaya Toure made reference that he has not gotten enough recognition because he is African.
The African Superstar could be right. He went on to say that though he is well known in Africa he is not as well known in Europe to the extent that he is recognized everywhere he goes.
Yaya Toure is the 6th highest earner in world football so its surprising that he feels unappreciated for his contributions.
This feeling of not being appreciated is not new among African players who have felt unappreciated over 3 centuries of their presence in European football.
Africa’s first successful footballer in Europe was Malian Salif Keita who left his hometown Bamako at the age of twenty in 1967 for France.
Keita joined French giants Saint Etienne where he won three consecutive league titles. Keita’s last two seasons saw him score an astonishing 71 league goals.
Keita was an absolute sensation in France and joined Olympique Marseille where he quickly left after it became evident they were trying to change his nationality to French. He moved to Valencia in Spain where he had moderate success though the team never won any titles. Finally, he settled at Sporting Lisbon where he won a Portuguese cup in 1978 and retired from football two years later.
The next African Star came in the form of Algerian Striker Rabah Madger who arrived from NA Hussein Dey with a huge reputation. Just like most African footballers of that time he first moved to France in 1983 to small Paris club RCF Paris.
He stayed in France for two years and without having won any trophy headed to Portugal where he joined Portuguese giants FC Porto in 1985. It is at Porto where he reached his heights and became the first African to conquer Europe.
In the 1987 European cup final against Bayern Munich he scored an audacious back heel putting Porto back into contention with an equalizer. Four minutes later he set up the winner as FC Porto won their first European Cup and he became the first African to lift the trophy.
Keita and Madger exploits inspired a generation as more Africans started being seen on the old continent. Zambian’s Charles Musonda and Kalusha Bwalya arrived at Belgian side Cercle Brugges between 1984 and 1986. The duo helped Cercle Bruges immensely helping the modest club reach 2 Belgian Cup finals.
Kalusha Bwalya was top scorer in his first season and was voted player of the year two seasons in a row. He eventually left for the Dutch league joining PSV Eindhoven under legendary coach Bobby Robson.
Charles Musonda joined up with Nigerian Steven Keshi at Anderlecht and the two became the next Africans to reach a European cup final in 1990. They played in the European Cup Winners Cup Final where Anderlecht got beaten 2-0 by Italian club Sampdoria.
Perhaps the first real hero who endeared himself with Europeans was Abedi Pele who arrived in Europe at the age of twenty three in 1987. He played for small French club Mulhouse before moving to French Giants Olympique Marseille.
What is so amazing about Abedi was the fact that he graced European football at a time when cable TV was becoming popular as millions of people began to enjoy more televised football.
Abedi took the opportunity to showcase his skills with both hands, reaching the European Cup final twice as the diminutive midfielder mesmerized Europeans with his close dribbling and immaculate control. Abedi went on to win four league titles with Marseille.
After Abedi came a flurry of African talents with the likes of striker Japheth Ndoram from Chad leading the unfashionable Nantes in the 1995-1996 UEFA Champions league to the semi-finals where they lost 3-4 on aggregate to Juventus.
George Weah became the first African to win both European and World Player of the Year Awards for his exploits at Paris Saint Germaine (PSG) and AC Milan.
Nwankwo Kanu, Sunday Oliseh, Lucas Radebe, Celestine Babayaro, Samuel Kuffour and many more followed the exploits of the players from the 80s as they lit up European football in the 90s.
Forward to the 2000s and who can forget Benni McCarthy celebrating FC Porto’s second UEFA Champions League trophy?
Over the last ten years Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien, Seydou Keita, El Hadji Diouf, Asamoah Gyan, McDonald Mariga have all been at one time some of the top talents in the world.
So it’s amazing that despite these achievements African players still feel unappreciated.
What else do African players need to do?
The Writer is an African Football fanatic from Lusaka, Zambia. Twitter:@ChamaPunch