Just show this on bbc.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3798851.stm
Africans at Euro 2004
France's Marcel Desailly one of the 'African' players at Euro 2004
France's victory at the 1998 World Cup highlighted the contribution of African footballers to several European national sides.
When the European Championship kicks off in Portugal on Saturday, many will be making those links again.
Africans will be able to claim players wearing Italian, French and Portuguese shirts as their own.
There are also several players missing from the tournament with African roots, as well as a few who may look African even if they are not.
As mush as Africa would love to claim the likes of Thierry Henry, Louis Saha and Lilian Thuram, all three hail from France's Caribbean colonies such as Martinique, Guyana and Guadeloupe.
However, the reigning European champions do boast several players with African roots, including captain Marcel Desailly who is Ghanaian-born.
Playing alongside Desailly is the two-time Fifa World Footballer of the Year Zinedine Zidane, who was brought up in Marseille but whose parents hail from Algeria.
Meanwhile, striker Sidney Govou joined the French squad at the last minute after turning Benin down ahead of the Cup of Nations in Tunisia.
French defender Jean-Alain Boumsong was born in Douala, Cameroon, and at 12 was considered too frail to play top-level football in his homeland and so took up volleyball.
But he longed to return to his favourite sport and moved to France two years later, where he joined the youth set-up of US Palaiseau.
Sweden's star striker Henrik Larsson has a Cape Verdian father, while Italy will line up defender Matteo Ferrari, born in Algeria to a Guinean mother and an Italian father.
Italy's Matteo Ferrari has strong African roots
Portugal, which is hosting the tournament, has long been the promised land for lusophone African footballers, with the legendary Mozambique-born duo of Eusebio and Mario Colunha still the most popular Africans to play in a Portuguese shirt.
Several youngsters could soon follow in Eusebio's footsteps with 23-year-old Real Valladolid striker Ariza Makukula, who was born in the DR Congo, having already played for Portugal's under-21 side.
Midfielder Jose Bosingwa da Silva also hails from the DR Congo but is eligible to play for Portugal and was in the latter's squad at the under-21 European championship in Germany.
Several other 'African' players have missed out on places in Portugal including Dutch youngster Youssouf Hersi, who is of Ethiopian origin.
Hersi played for Holland's under-20 side at the 2001 World Cup in Argentina.
DR Congo-born Blaise Nkufo, who plays his club football in Holland, is another missing as he has not been included in the Switzerland squad.
Nor was there a place in Rudi Voeller's Germany squad for the Ghanaian-born midfielder Gerald Asamoah.
Several other African-born players will miss Europe's elite international football tournament after their countries failed to reach Euro 2004.
Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe will not play after his adopted nation Poland lost out in the qualifying stages, while Belgium's failure to make it to Portugal means the DR Congo-born brothers Emile and Mbo Mpenza also miss out.
Xtratime is down
S.Korea and Japan?
