Top 5 African Goalkeeping Legends

Goalkeepers are the last line of defense, they orchestrate play from the back and save their teams from conceding whenever possible.

African countries in the past have produced top-
class goalkeeper over the past couple of years and
as a matter of fact, become role models to
European goalkeepers who made them their source
of inspiration.
Although the number of African goalkeepers plying
their trade in Europe can be counted on the tip of
fingers due to competition and lack of
opportunities, some paid their dues in the past and
broke new grounds for the present generation and
fortunately, some of them are still active.
In this write up we take a look at the top 5 African
goalkeeping legends in no particular order.

Carlos Kameni (425 Caps)

Country: Cameroon

Although Cameroon may possess a whole lot of
goalkeeping legends, Carlos Kameni managed to
register his name on the already long list of top
goalkeepers to have come out of the Central African
country.

Kameni took a tight grip on the number one shirt of
the Cameroon national team debuting at the age of
19 and he appeared for the Indomitable Lions in
over 70 appearances and made his name in Spanish
La Liga where he played for Espanyol and Malaga
before he went to Fenerbache.
He featured at three FIFA World Cups and six
African Cup of Nations winning the title in 2002 and
also runners up finish at the 2003 Confederations
Cup after a Gold medal win at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics.

Vincent Enyeama ( 607 Caps)

Country: Nigeria

Recently, Vincent Enyeama insinuated his legendary
status by stating he conquered Africa during his
playing career and rightly so he did at the club level
and on the national team level.

He won the CAF Champions League trophy twice
with Enyimba international of Aba in 2003 and 2004
before he took his trade to Europe.

He also won the
Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles in 2013
after several third-place finishes.
Also, he is known for his goal-scoring trait scoring
ten goals at Enyimba and nine for Hapoel Tel Aviv
including a couple in their UEFA Champions League
sojourn.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa shot him to
world prominence after a spectacular performance
against Lionel Messi and Argentina. He also holds
the second position on the list of the longest clean
sheet record in the French League after going on
11,062 minutes without conceding, a total of 11
games consecutively.

Thomas Nkono ( 637 caps )

Country: Cameroon

N’Kono appeared for the Cameroon national team in
three World Cups, and four Africa Cup of Nations
tournaments winning the trophy in 1984.

The goalkeeper was known for acrobatic saves, the high
speed which made him appreciated.

He had over three hundred appearances for
Espanyol in over a decade and over 500 in his club
career that included Canon Yaounde where he won
two CAF Champions League and his last club in
Club Bolivia, also had over 100 appearances for the
national team.

Nkono became a source of inspiration for the young
and upcoming goalkeeper, he returned to his main
club as a goalkeeping coach, helping develop young
talent and countryman Carlos Kameni.

Gianluigi Buffon once said he decided to be a
goalkeeper after seeing N’Kono’s performances at
the 1990 World Cup. In addition, he named his first
son Louis Thomas in the Cameroonian’s honor.

Essam El Hadary ( 1028 Caps)

Country: Egypt

Looking for one of Africa’s most decorated
goalkeepers, Essam El-Hadary is definitely on top
of the pile.

The Egyptian legend was part of the Egyptian generation of players that won 3 back to
back Africa Cup of Nation titles from 2006 to 2010,
winning four in total and another final appearance in
2017 in Gabon.
He also featured at the 2009 Confederations Cup in
South Africa, his only appearance for any European
club was with Sion in Switzerland but he won
several titles with his club Al-Ahly of Egypt
including 8 Egyptian league titles, Four Egyptian
cups, four super cups, and Four CAF Champions
League titles.
In 2018 when Egypt qualified for its first FIFA World
Cup in a long time, Essam broke the record for the
oldest goalkeeper and player to play in the FIFA
World Cup after coming on for a group game in
Russia 2018 at the age of 45years, beating the
record set by Colombian goalkeeper Faryd
Mondragón in the previous edition of the
tournament.

He is also the third player on Egypt’s
all-time appearance record. He is still active playing
for Nogoom in the Egyptian League where he has 3
appearances this season.

Joseph Antoine Belle (366 Caps)

Country: Cameroon

Cameroonian who is well respected for his
Goalkeeping skills, Bell had a respectable club
career with several foreign club sides including
Bordeaux, Saint Etienne, Marseille amongst others
making over 300 appearances
He played for Cameroon making 91 appearances
and also played at the 1984 Summer Olympics and
was on Cameroon’s winning team in the 1984 and
1988 African Cup of Nations although he was
behind Nkono for a long time making the trip to the
FIFA World Cup three times before making his
debut in 1994 playing two group games.

Other names that are worth mentioning are Acquis
Songo’o who had close to hundred caps for the
Indomitable Lions and played and won the La Liga
with Deportivo La Coruna before moving to Metz.
Peter Rufai also had a respectable career with the
Nigerian national team and also Ike Shorunmi