[tomaszlegg]

I have compiled a list of the ten players I believe will be the next stars of African football. If anyone disagrees with the list or thinks I have missed any potential stars out, then please feel free to comment. The list is complied in a random order;

1. Taye Taiwo: Marseille and Nigeria; Nigeria's powerful left back Taye Taiwo was one of the revelations of the FIFA World Youth Championships. Earning the third top player award, the roving fullback with a wicked left-footed shot brought bags of confidence to the Nigeria team throughout the championships.

2. Godwin Antwi: Liverpool and Ghana; Strong imposing defender who was bought to Liverpool from Real Zaragoza in the summer. Can play in the center of defense or in the holding role in midfield.

3. John Obi Mikel: Lyn (Man Utd or Chelsea) and Nigeria; Club confusion aside, John Obi is an amazingly talented footballer able to control and dictate the pattern of play. Tall, elegant and powerful, the playmaker held his nerve to eventually convert the important penalty and hand his team the cushion of a 2-0 lead against Switzerland in the countries all-important third game of the FIFA Youth Championships. Great things are expected of this 18-year-old.

4. Jonathan Quartey: Heart of Lion and Ghana; Tall, strong and confident. Showing all the signs of an excellent no-nonsense defender.

5. Isaac Promise: Gençlerbirligi and Nigeria; A fast and skillful striker. Isaac who signed a four-year deal with Gençlerbirligi in the summer scored one goal in the FIFA Youth Championships, but with a number of impressive performances, managed to come away from the tournament with a big reputation. I am a little skeptical about his move to Turkey as im not to sure weather it is the right environment to nurture and improve a player like Isaac, but only time will tell.

6. Momodou Ceesay: Wallidan and Gambia; Strong and skillful Gambian striker who's partnership with Osmane Jallow in the recent under 17 World Cup in Peru was arguably one of the most attractive to watch (along with Dos Santos and Vela for Mexico, Sahin and Kose Tevfik for Turkey). He managed to score two goals in three games, with his most impressive display coming in the 3-1 beating of then reigning champions Brazil. Here's a link to an article posted on the FIFA website the day after the game; http://www.fifa.com/en/news/feature/...ticleid=109674
A true star in the making.

7. Agyemang Opoku: Ashanti Gold and Ghana; the star of the 2005 Africa under 17 Championships. His pace, power and vision makes him a constant handful for opposition defenders.

8. Dennis Oliech: Al Arabi (Nantes from January) and Kenya; Even at the age of just 20, he is possible the best player to have ever come out of Kenya. The first Kenyan to play in France after recently being snapped up by FC Nantes on a four-year deal and personally I jumped with joy when I hear the news. Having grown up in Nairobi and now visiting the country at least twice a year, this is the one thing Kenyan football needs at the moment. Dennis strength, speed and directness are the most appealing aspects of his game and with a four year deal with one of the best youth set-ups in France, im sure they will be able to nurture and improve him into a top class striker. Remember the name!!

9. Ismael Beko Fofana: Academy mimos-sifcom and Cote d'lvoire; May not be the strongest forward, but has an amazing eye for goal, with four in five games in the African under 17 Championships. He's also got amazing pace!!

10. Osmane Jallow: Wallidan and Gambia; Tall, athletic and blessed with the gift to burst through defenses. He proved that description in the recent under 17 World Cup with two goals in three games.

[ChaChaFut]

I think the only one I've seen play is Taye Taiwo, but too little to have any real impression of his talent. Do Antwi, Quartey, Opoku, or Beko Fofana have any chances of playing the World Cup?

[Saukrates]

3. John Obi Mikel: Lyn (Man Utd or Chelsea) and Nigeria; Club confusion aside, John Obi is an amazingly talented footballer able to control and dictate the pattern of play. Tall, elegant and powerful, the playmaker held his nerve to eventually convert the important penalty and hand his team the cushion of a 2-0 lead against Switzerland in the countries all-important third game of the FIFA Youth Championships. Great things are expected of this 18-year-old.

he potentialy might be the best defensive midfield talent to come out of Africa,the kid has poise and a good footballing brain.

[tomaszlegg]

I would be really surprised if any of those four players make their respected countries World Cup squads. Antwi is 17, Quartey 17, Opoku 16 and Fofana has just turned 17. The only one out of those four who could possible get a place in a World Cup squad would be Antwi, primarily because he plays in Europe and might be seen as having more experience (although he is still to make his Liverpool debut because he is spending the 2005/06 season in the reserves to develop). I hope the other three develop well over the next two or three years, possible get a move to a good European club to progress further and then they could make there way up the International latter, through the Under 19's to Under 21's and then into the full International set up.
In the case of John Obi, who has already made his International debut, he is possible the most versatile midfielder to come out of Africa for quite a while. He's strong enough to comfortably play in the holding role in midfield and skillful enough to play in a move advanced position. He is a typical box-to-box midfielder and a very BIG talent.

[SpeedyGonzalez]

Didier Zokora??????How good is he?

[tomaszlegg]

Zokora is another talented Ivorian Midfielder, but at 24 can't really be considered a 'young' player anymore. Another two or three seasons and he should be in his prime and on the performances he has shown everyone this season for St. Etienne, he will be quite some player. They are the surprise team this season, currently sitting third in the French League, ahead of the so called bigger French clubs like Monaco, Marseille and Auxerre. I notice you are a Man Utd fan, so taking into consideration the fact Zokora has been linked with a move to United in January or at the end of the season, the question im sure you'd like to know is whether or not he would be a success at Old Trafford? Or be another 'failure’ like Djemba Djemba??
Well that is something im hoping we will be able to find out in the not to distant future, if he hopefully secures a well deserved move to England.

[jokstein]

Dennis Oliech ---is he really 20? I saw him right here in Gaborone when Kenya came to play my beloved Zebras in a WC qualifier and he did NOT look like a twenty-year old...to me he looked more like someone well into his twenties...not even mid twenties..but that was just my observation....

On another note, your top ten most promising is slanted towards the West African region. Are you by any means suggesting that North Africa,Central and Southern Africa have a paucity of quality youngsters coming thru'the ranks?

[tomaszlegg]

Firstly, to my knowledge Dennis is 20. The KFF's (Kenyan Football Federation) squad list for the World Cup/African Nations qualifiers and New threads from the Daily Nation, BBC and Sky Sports have all indicated he is 20. I have also seen him recently in Nairobi when I was visiting and I would agree with you that he dose not exactly look 20. To be honest I think he is just a very strong, physically built player, like Wayne Rooney. Who lets be honest does also not look 19!!?
Saying that, there has always been questions over the rightful age of African players, for example Oba Martins:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ca/4742321.stm

And

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ca/4745717.stm

There has also been questions over the 'real' age of Freddy Adu, who was born in Ghana. So although Dennis may not look 20, officially he is.

Secondly, on the subject of me leaning towards more West African based player, the only reason I have done that is simply because that’s they way world football predominantly looks at African Football. Id hazard a guess that almost 70%-80% of Football funding goes to West African Based development programs. I personally think there is a large number of promising players coming out from all over Africa, but because West African countries have better development programs, I believe they have a greater chance of succeeding in European Football.
Having been raised in Kenya and still spending most of my time over there, I hate seeing the limited funds that are made available to East African countries.
Here is a little list of players (Not from West Africa) that have promising futures in the African and European games, please feel free to add:

1. Marouane Chamakh - Morocco
2. Tinashe Nengomashe - Zimbabwe
3. Dane Klate - South Africa
4. Junior Khanye - South Africa
5. Lebohang Lefalamang Mokoena - South Africa
6. Mido - Egypt (although he’s 23 now)

So the first list was not compiled with any bias towards any region in Africa, but it’s just unfortunate that World football organisations and funding programs tends to do so.

[JRedknapp11]

Name is eluding me now...but that Kenyan bloke who was transfered to Nantes via Saudi , is an exciting player.

Kenyan football is slowing comming back into the spotlight again. Once the KPF gets a bit more grounded, I really think the rest of the world will see a surplus of quality Kenyan footballers playing across the world.

[ZeekLTK]

Originally Posted by jokstein

On another note, your top ten most promising is slanted towards the West African region. Are you by any means suggesting that North Africa,Central and Southern Africa have a paucity of quality youngsters coming thru'the ranks?

To me, it looks like the list was only based on recent U-17 events, in which mostly Western African teams qualified for. Meaning if a team wasn't in the U-17 World Cup they didn't get mentioned except for that 20 year old Kenyan guy.

I mean, Ghana, Gambia, and Cote d'Ivoire were Africa's representatives for the U-17 World Cup and then Nigeria is just a continental powerhouse, and if you notice, 9/10 people on the list are from those 4 countries. What about South Africa, Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt, Congo DR, Morocco? I'd bet they all have at least 1-2 players who are better than some on this list, but they weren't in the WC (or Nigeria) so the original poster simply ignored them.

And upon further review, the only reason there is a Kenyan guy in the list is because the original poster is from Kenya (or lived there at least), so he had to throw in a home talent. Overall, very shady list, but nice to get a discussion going I guess.