Legendary African goalkeepers

When thinking about footballers from Africa, it´s often the offensive qualities that comes to mind. Players like George Weah, Samuel Eto´o, Didier Drogba and Mohamed Salah have all given rise to that picture of the continent. But Africa has also produced some great goalkeepers that should be mentioned.

Arthur Wharton

Born in Accra in Ghana in 1865, the goalkeeper Arthur Wharton was to become the first black professional footballer in the UK. Not only that, this very talented athete also set a record in cycling and became the fastest man in Britain.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper factory

In the modern era, Cameroon has undoubtedly produced most of the high class goalkeepers in Africa. One such figure is Thomas N´kono who cotnributed to Cameroon´s quarter final place in the World cup 1990 and had a notable career with Espanyol in Spain. Actually, Gianluigi Buffon was very much inspired to become a goalkeeper after watching Nkono in the World cup. Other notable keepers from Cameroon include Joseph-Antoine Bell, Jacques Songo´o and Carlos Kameni.

Essam El Hadary

At 45 years old, the Egyptian became the oldest World cup player in history in 2018. He is a legend in his home country and has won the Africa cup of nations four times and the African champions league four times.

Do you know anyone that should be mentioned in this list?