Top ten greatest players who never won the AFCON

The talented Zambian forward has the African Footballer of the Year missing from the list of honours won as a footballer. He led Zambia to defy all odds and book a place in the final of the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), a year after the team had lost a core of their players in an air crash. However, they lost the final against Nigeria in Tunis.

Tony Yeboah

The first African to win the top scorer award in the Bundesliga never won the Africa Cup of Nations as a player, despite being part of one of the golden generations of Ghana football that was full of talented players like Abedi Pele, Sarfo Gyamfi, Kofi Abbrey, Tony Baffoe and so on. The star-studed Black Stars team that had Tony Yeboah lost the grand finale of the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations against Ivory Coast in a marathon shootout in Dakar. Tony Yeboah would come close to winning the AFCON in 1996, but the Black Stars suffered a heavy defeat against hosts, South Africa in the semi-finals, making sure 'Yegoala' never touched the AFCON trophy.

George Oppong Weah

He is the only African player to win the FIFA Footballer of the Year-1995. Oppong Weah, however wasn’t born in a great African football nation, so he struggled to help Liberia qualify for a single Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Indeed, such a great footballer would have had an African gold to his name, if he had been a national of Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt, etc.

The former PSG and AC Milan striker would forever curse his stars for missing out on such a coveted trophy.

Didier Drogba

He is a two-time African footballer of the year. He has won every single important trophy in club football, yet he never won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) with the greatest Ivorian team of all-time. He played in two AFCON finals in 2006 and in 2012, but his side on both occasion lost through penalty shootouts (to Egypt and Zambia respectively). What makes Didier Drogba’s AFCON title miss a sad one was that Ivory Coast won the trophy in 2015, immediately after he had retired from international football.

Mustapha Hadji

He was the skipper of the Moroccan national team. Hadji was a naturally gifted playmaker and despite winning the African Footballer of the Year in 1998, he couldn’t get the Morocco national team closer to the AFCON title.

Sammy Osei Kuffour

The former UEFA Champions League winning player and the ex-BBC African Footballer of the Year is arguably the greatest African defender of all-time. However, his contribution to the national team wasn't enough to see the Black Stars win the AFCON.

Benni McCarthy

The South African is rated as one of the greatest African players who never won the Africa Cup of Nations. He rose to prominence two years after South Africa had won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 1996. During the 1998 AFCON in Burkina Faso, he was the joint top scorer of the tournament with seven goals, but he missed out on the ultimate, as the Bafana Bafana of South Africa were beaten 0-2 in the final by Egypt.

Nwanko Kanu

The lanky striker found himself in the mix of other talented Nigerian footballers like Jay Jay Okocha, yet they never won the Africa Cup of Nations. The closest he came to winning the title with the Super Eagles was in 2000 when they lost to rivals Cameroon in a penalty shootout. Kanu despite winning then Olympic gold with Nigeria in 1996 and two African Footballer of the Year awards would have loved to win the African Footballer of the Year award, something that eluded him.

Michael Essien

The former Chelsea player is one of the greatest midfielders to have emerged in African football. He was part of the Black Stars team that qualified for their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2006 and in 2008 when they were tipped as favourites to win the AFCON on home soil, the Black Stars disappointed by winning bronze instead.

Emmanuel Adebayor

He is the only Togolese player to win the African Footballer of the Year Award (in 2008). He contributed immensely to help the Hawks of Togo qualify for their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2006, yet he has never been able to get Togo closer to the African Cup of Nations title.