Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon) – Lille, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona, Marseille
Aubameyang is not only the leading African scorer in Europa League history, he’s the outright all-time top scorer. His 34 goals, spread across spells at Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona and Marseille, saw him overtake Radamel Falcao’s long-standing record in 2023/24, though his competition debut actually came years earlier, on loan at Lille.
He also became the first African player to reach 400 career goals in all competitions. The one thing missing from his résumé is the trophy itself. He played in and lost the 2019 final with Arsenal, beaten 4-1 by Chelsea, having scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against Valencia to help get them there.
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Taribo West (Nigeria) – Inter Milan
West holds a genuine piece of history as the first African player to actually win the old UEFA Cup, doing so with Inter in 1998 after they thrashed Lazio 3-0 in the final. It remains one of the earliest and most significant African trophy wins in European club competition.
Abdelkrim Merry (Morocco) – Bastia
Long before West lifted the trophy, Merry became the first African player to feature in a UEFA Cup final, playing for Bastia in their 1978 defeat to PSV.
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Frédéric Kanouté (Mali) – Sevilla
The standout African figure from one of the competition’s great dynasties. Kanouté scored in both of Sevilla’s UEFA Cup final wins, in 2006 and 2007, becoming a club legend in the process and finishing as Sevilla’s all-time top goalscorer with 131 goals.
He was named African Footballer of the Year in 2007 largely on the back of that success.
Stéphane Mbia (Cameroon) – Rennes, Marseille, Sevilla, Trabzonspor
After starting his European career at Rennes and Marseille, Mbia revived his career at Sevilla, winning the Europa League in both 2014 and 2015 during the club’s remarkable run of dominance in the competition, part of a run that would eventually stretch to a record three titles in a row.
He later added Trabzonspor to his Europa League résumé before moving on to China.
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Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo) – Monaco, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, İstanbul Başakşehir
Adebayor’s Europa League and UEFA Cup story runs far wider than most remember, featuring for Monaco in 2005/06, on loan at Real Madrid in 2010/11, across four separate seasons with Tottenham, and even in his later career at İstanbul Başakşehir.
His most prolific spell came at Tottenham, where he became the club’s top scorer with 18 goals in 2012/13, even if the trophy itself always stayed out of reach.
Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
