http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3151583.stm
The export of African football talent to Europe has a long history which can be traced back to the colonial period.
For example, some of the finest players from Senegal and Cameroon have honed their skills in France - the former colonial master.

However, the world is also awash with African-born players who changed nationality for one reason or another.

Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele, Patrick Vieira and Marcel Desailly are some of the better-known stars of African origin.

Our Out of Africa section will track the fortunes of players with African roots as they parade their skills in some of the world's top leagues.

Listed below are some of the players with African roots and the countries they now represent.

But if you know of any player of African origin whose name does not appear on our list, please let us know by emailing us at african.football@bbc.co.uk

Zinedine Zidane: France (Algeria)

Patrick Vieira: France (Senegal)
Ibrahim Ba: France (Senegal)
Lamine Sakho: France (Senegal)
David Bellion: France (Senegal)

Claude Makelele: France (DR Congo)
Peguy Luyindula: France (DR Congo)
Blaise N'Kufo: Switzerland (DR Congo)
Emile Mpenza: Belgium (DR Congo)
Mbo Mpenza: Belgium (DR Congo)
Kiki Musampa: Holland (DR Congo)
Ali Maboula Lukunku: France (DR Congo)
Gaby Mudingayi: Belhium (DR Congo)
Patrick Dimbala: Belgium (DR Congo)
Vincent Kompany: Belgium (DR Congo)

Freddy Adu: United States (Ghana)
Gerald Asamoah: Germany (Ghana)
Marcel Desailly: France (Ghana)
George Boateng: Holland (Ghana)
Eric & Daniel Ofori Okyere: Belgium (Ghana)

Emmanuel Olisadebe: Poland (Nigeria)
Shola Ameobi: England (Nigeria)
Okonkwo Digger Ifeani: Malta (Nigeria)
Ugochukwu Ehiogu:England (Nigeria)
Ade Akinbiyi: England (Nigeria)
George Ndah: England (Nigeria)

Olivier Kapo: France (Ivory Coast)

Djibril Cisse: France (Ivory Coast)

Jean-Alain Boumsong: France (Cameroon)
Charles Itanje: France (Cameroon)
Bruno N'Gotty: France (Cameroon)
Pascal Nouma: France (Cameroon)

Sabri Lamouchi: France (Tunisia)

Rami Shabaan: Sweden (Egypt)

Carlton Cole: England (Nigeria/Sierra Leone)

Fabio Liverani: Italy (Somalia)
Youssouf Hersi: Holland (Somalia)

Robert Earnshaw: Wales (Zambia)

Abel Xavier: Portugal (Mozambique)

Sean Dundee: Germany (South Africa)

Yassine Benajiba: Belgium (Morocco)

John Alieu Carew: Norway (Gambia)

oh my word, i cant believe it, zidane is algeria...:o

Ryan Giggs also got african roots. Believe me, I read that once at www.manutd.com some months ago.

What would the french nt do without their African players?

Most people know Zidane was born in Algeria, although some french say its Marseille :rolleyes:

thats what i mostly see.....on his bio it never says hes algerian, i heard it in the world cup last year but i didnt believe it..........i checked the net and all sites i looked up said he was born in Marseille, and never mentioned his roots

I believe his parents are Algerian, but he could have been born in Marseille.

What of Thierry Henry, I recall his Nationality was some vague and obscure country I'd never heard of.

I think Martinique

yea his parents immigrated from martinique and thierry was born in paris, i think.

I think Djorkaeff is Algerian aswell.

I remember when France played Senegal at the World Cup the commentator said Vieira's relatives were all cheering for Senegal.

Originally posted by mufc_daddy
I think Djorkaeff is Algerian aswell.

I remember when France played Senegal at the World Cup the commentator said Vieira's relatives were all cheering for Senegal.

Djorkaeff is armenian.

Edgar Davids is born in Suriname (Dutch colony)
so are some other Dutch national players I think.

zedane is algeria.. Africa have contributed ALOT to soccer.. but its pathetic how politics mess it up for them.. the best dribblers comes from there (OKOCHA) and its one of the most enetertainment team (NIGERIA)

hell yea those african teams are entertaining. i thought senegal was one of the most entertaining and fun to watch teams in last year's world cup. nigeria has a lot of talent and are fun to watch too, but too bad they were stuck in that group of death...that england/nigeria draw was one of the most boring matches i've seen in my life however.

Originally posted by Punkt
Djorkaeff is armenian.

Thanks for the correction.

Originally posted by northstar
Edgar Davids is born in Suriname (Dutch colony)
so are some other Dutch national players I think.
Suriname is on south america. Most of dutch players from there have Javanese and south east asian roots, like Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ruud Gullit.

no wonder van Bronckhorst looks asian....

I think also Kluivert was born in Surinam,although Im sure Seedorf was.. Also Karembeu was born in a island of the pacific cant remember the name..and Anelka was born in Martinique

Karembeau is from New Caledonia and Van Bronkhorst has Indonesian roots.

looks like holland and france wouldnt really have a NT without all the foreign rooted players....imagine that:confused:

france would not even qualified for euro competitions let alone wc... holland still have a team.... van der vaart, ruud v nistelrooy, jaap stam, van Bommel.....

Originally posted by mufc_daddy
Karembeau is from New Caledonia and Van Bronkhorst has Indonesian roots.
Yup, his grandparents came from the islands of Maluku. Holland got a very strong historic relationship with Indonesia, that`s why on every World Cup, Euros or any other tourneys Holland participated in, we like to support them.

only if these players played for senegal
Patrick Vieira: France (Senegal)
Ibrahim Ba: France (Senegal)
Lamine Sakho: France (Senegal)
David Bellion: France (Senegal)
senegal would have won against turkey.......:hump:

Geez. look at that list of players for France. And people complain about the USA taking Freddy Adu into their nation?

wow and i thought scotland were bad for english players, weve only got about 2! if france had to play french players the Faroe Islands would ****in tan them!

Originally posted by DIOUF11
only if these players played for senegal
Patrick Vieira: France (Senegal)
Ibrahim Ba: France (Senegal)
Lamine Sakho: France (Senegal)
David Bellion: France (Senegal)
senegal would have won against turkey.......:hump:

Lets see, you named:
1.) An arrogant psycho
2.) Who?
3.) A Marseille-reject
4.) A young player that does have talent, but really haven't proven anything yet

Turkey are just better than Senegal and will always be.

Originally posted by ILLnezz
zedane is algeria.. Africa have contributed ALOT to soccer.. but its pathetic how politics mess it up for them.. the best dribblers comes from there (OKOCHA) and its one of the most enetertainment team (NIGERIA)[/B]

1.) Forget about blaming politics, if you're a good footy-player then you win.
Besides that isn't both Nigeria and South Africa fairly politically stable countrys?
2.) There are many countrys that spawn better dribblers.

Originally posted by vince15
What would the french nt do without their African players?
That's a good question. Below is the latest France squad (taken from http://www.fff.fr). At the same site I looked up where the players where born, and this is what I came up with:

*Players born in France but have foreign roots.
**Players born elsewhere.

Fabien Barthez
Grégory Coupet

Jean-Alain Boumsong**
Marcel Desailly**
Bixente Lizarazu
Philippe Mexes
Willy Sagnol
Mikaël Silvestre*
Lilian Thuram**

Olivier Dacourt*
Ludovic Giuly
Claude Makelele**
Benoît Pedretti
Robert Pires
Patrick Vieira**
Sylvain Wiltord*
Zinedine Zidane*

Djibril Cissé*
Thierry Henry*
Steve Marlet*
David Trézéguet*

----

With the results France have accomplished in recent years, there's no doubt the immigration has been good for the country! On the other hand, who knows what results the African countries could have accomplished with these players? Here in Sweden we also have some interesting young talents whose parents have moved from other countries, for example Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kennedy Bakirciouglü and Stefan Ishizaki.

i believe pires' father is portuguese and mother is spanish.

Fabio Liverani: Italy (Somalia) his first international game was against South Africa. He was in Worldsoccer magazine awhile ago.

I have a freind from Somalia. Extremely good at basketball.

As mentioned Pires is half-spanish and half-portuguese.
Bixente Lizerazu is Basque by the way.

Trezeguet is half-french so you can't give him a *

Originally posted by J.Karlsson
Here in Sweden we also have some interesting young talents whose parents have moved from other countries, for example Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kennedy Bakirciouglü and Stefan Ishizaki.

Lucky bastards.
You get Zlatan and if we are "lucky" we get the Egyptian wife-beater Mohamed Zidan :(
Do you Swedes wanna make a swap-deal?: We get Zlatan and you get Rommedahl ;)(Also known as Drømmedahl)

Drømmedahl


hahahahaha

Originally posted by Limberopoulos21
Drømmedahl


hahahahaha

...needless to say, Drømmedahl isn't exactly the most popular player in Denmark at the moment.

what about Kevin Kuranyi of Germany, his last name looks Algerian? is it or not?

He's Brazilian.

i wouldn't thought of that

Originally posted by vince15
He's Brazilian.

No, he's Panamanian but he was born in Brazil.

I can't believe this thread missed discussing Trezeguet:o I think he was born in Argentina or was raised there and he didn't know any French until he was a teen I think?? Also Vieri was born in Australia, or raised there... anywayz IMO France would be screwed without all the African rooted players, and IMO Africa would have a WC by now with all those stars:o

Originally posted by SB9Dragon
I can't believe this thread missed discussing Trezeguet:o I think he was born in Argentina or was raised there and he didn't know any French until he was a teen I think?? Also Vieri was born in Australia, or raised there... anywayz IMO France would be screwed without all the African rooted players, and IMO Africa would have a WC by now with all those stars:o

1.) Trezeguet is half french so he should probly be counted as french.
2.) Vieri was born in and raised in Australia but he haven't got Aussie blood in him

Btw. Australia is an interesting chapter as a large amount of the players on their national team are actually Croatian.