Over 20 African players have ever played for FC Barcelona — what if Blaugrana were to send their all-time best African XI to the African Cup of Nations?
Let’s not beat about the bush — here is this ultimate team:
Goalkeeper: Andre Onana
The goalkeeper's bond with Barcelona is special. He had been part of the Samuel Eto'o Academy in Cameroon for four years before joining Barca in 2010 to spend five more formative years in La Masia. Barca let him go to Ajax for merely €150,000 — a sum that rose by 340 when he transferred from Inter Milan to Man United last summer.
Although he was disappointed by a lack of faith from Barcelona, Onana still has warm feelings for his former club: "Barcelona is my home and I grew up there. I have a very, very good relationship since I left".
Right-back: Samuel Okunowo
Back in the day, top clubs didn't have scouts in every corner of the planet, so stars had to align for youngsters like Samuel Okunowo to be noticed by big clubs.
Barca scouts discovered the Nigerian at a U18 tournament in 1997; they were sent there to watch Xavi, then a budding midfielder from La Masia, but Okunowo was so good the Catalans offered him a trial less than an hour after the final in which Nigeria beat Spain 3-2.
Okunowo earned himself a first-team promotion after just one season with Barca B and made 21 appearances in 1998-99 for Louis van Gaal’s La Liga-winning side.
Unfortunately, those 21 appearances was all he ever had at the club. Okunowo's career afterwards was unremarkable but could make every travel blogger drool: he's been to Portugal, Greece, Romania, Albania, Ukraine, Nigeria and even Maldives. England also appears on the Nigerian's CV — thanks to a stint at eighth-tier Walthamstow FC; from playing next to Luis Figo to the bottom of the football pyramid.
A few years ago, the club invited Samuel to participate in a Barca Legends charity match, where he met some of his former teammates.
Centre-backs: Yaya Toure, Alex Song
Definitely one of Barca's most iconic African players. Yaya Toure played a crucial role for both Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola, winning the Champions League and two La Liga titles within three years. We haven't put Toure at centre-back for no reason – that's where he was forced to play the 2009 Champions League final, the biggest match of his career, due to injuries and suspensions of other players.
The Ivorian had the potential to stay at the club for many years, but his relationship with Guardiola was too tense for that. Pep reportedly felt Yaya didn’t back him enough and opted to bet on 20-year-old Sergio Busquets, a decision heavily criticised by fans at the time. Although Toure's exit was still considered a big loss, Guardiola's bet paid off for everyone involved.
Next to Yaya in our team is Alex Song. After a breakthrough 2011/12 season with Arsenal, in which he delivered 11 Premier League assists, the defensive midfielder signed for Barca as a backup for Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano. The Cameroonian never lived up to the expectations and spent two years on loan at West Ham before joining one of just three teams Leo Messi has ever failed to beat after seeing his contract ripped up.
Song's most memorable moment at Camp Nou would make an 8/10 Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. As Barca were about to lift the La Liga trophy, Song thought Carles Puyol wanted him to do it instead of Eric Abidal, who'd just come back from a liver transplant.
In a recent interview, Song admitted he ‘didn’t give a f**k’ about playing at Barca and simply enjoyed the life of a billionaire. He has recently retired from football, ending his player career in… Djibouti.
Left-back: Ez Abde
The Moroccan was one of La Masia’s best attackers a few years ago and played a role in the second half of Xavi’s first season. Abde was so highly rated that even then-Spain boss Luis Enrique debated on which country he should represent.
Following the breakthrough of Lamine Yamal and Fermin, Abde was forced to leave Barcelona again permanently. But one thing his La Masia peers would be jealous of is Abde's knack for scoring bangers.
Central midfielders: Seydou Keita, Franck Kessie
One of the undeservedly less talked-about heroes of the Guardiola era. Keita was a versatile midfielder with a great first touch, vision, and an underrated ability to score goals – he found the net 22 times in 4 years at the club.
"He never plays poorly. He makes my job easier," Pep once said about the Malian. Even when the relationship got tense between the two and the player barely had any game time, Guardiola would assure Seydou would stay as he is ‘the most generous player’ Pep had ever known.
The one to play alongside Keita would be Franck Kessie. Cules would forever be grateful to the Ivorian for scoring a late winner in the biggest Clasico of the 2022/23 season. One of the most glorious episodes of Xavi’s time at Barca, for sure.
Despite only spending a year at the club, the Ivorian proved himself as a true professional, never complaining about his back-up role and agreeing to leave when the club needed money from his sale.
"I miss the support of the fans Barca fans," said Kessie not long after leaving. "I try to give Barcelona all my support and follow every game."
Right winger: Munir El Haddadi
It’s quite shocking to realise the former wonderkid is nearly 30…
The Moroccan forward was part of Barcelona for a long eight years, winning 11 trophies and serving as a decent backup most of the time – 12 goals and 11 assists across 52 appearances for one of the best Barca sides is not what many footballers achieve.
Munir was seen as the perfect Luis Enrique player given his diligence and ruthlessness in front of goal. However, once the treble-winning coach left the club, his trusted soldier immediately followed suit — partly because despite brief spells of good form, he never really unleashed his potential in full.
Munir reminded the Barca crowd of his existence in early 2023 when he scored against Blaugrana with a thrilling Las Palmas side. Aptly, the one who assisted him was another ex-La Masia talent Sandro.
Left winger: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Streets will never forget how good the Gabonese was under Xavi and what kind of effort he put in to join Barca. He bagged 13 goals in just half a season, massively contributing to the Catalans' top-4 finish in a challenging campaign.
Even though Auba will probably hang up his boots soon, he is still capable of recording over 20 goal contributions per season, proving this at Marseille.
Strikers: Samuel Eto'o, Emmanuel Amunike
The Cameroonian is a cult figure for Barca. He is still 5th on the list of Blaugrana's all-time top goalscorers — ahead of Rivaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, Neymar — and there are no signs anyone would beat him in the near future.
Eto'o is also the only player on this list to have ever played for Real Madrid. He had been part of the Whites from 1996 to 2000 and had a chance to come back after his successful time at Mallorca. He didn't want that comeback at all, though, revealing later that he hadn’t felt respected by Real Madrid’s academy teammates and suggesting their club didn't like black people.
Emmanuel Amunike is the final name in our XI. A hero of the 1996 Olympics won by Nigeria, the forward shortly signed for Barca to make the difference up front. But just like his fellow Nigerian teammate Okunowo, Amunike fell victim to great competition — Louis van Gaal had Rivaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, Luis Figo and Luis Enrique at his disposal.
Nonetheless, Emmanuel had one really special moment in the Blaugrana shirt — scoring the winner in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Amunike hung up his boots after short spells at Albacete and in Jordan, but his trophy cabinet is impressive nonetheless: two La Liga titles, Copa del Rey, Olympic gold, African Cup of Nations, CAF Champions League and even the African Player of the Year award.
How do you like the team? What changes would you make? Maybe you’d like to put Kevin-Prince Boateng or some rising stars like Mikayil Faye?
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