SERIE A
Victor Osimhen: The latest African scoring success in Italy
In a season of landmarks, Victor Osimhen’s latest goal in Serie A brought him another record.
The Nigerian’s strike against Fiorentina on 7 May was his 47th in the Italian top flight, taking the Napoli striker past Liberia’s George Weah and making him the top African scorer in the league’s history – a notable achievement given that former AC Milan star Weah is the only African ever to win the Ballon d’Or prize given to the world’s best footballer.
But the two goal-hungry forwards are far from the only Africans to make a mark in Italy. BBC Sport Africa takes a look at some of the facts and figures for players who scored success after crossing the Mediterranean.
The trailblazer and the record breaker
By and large, African players arriving in Italy can be divided into two categories: young prospects and established stars.
Osimhen and Weah fall squarely into the second category, as do Ghanaian idol Abedi Pele, who won a Champions League title at Marseille before joining Torino in 1994, Samuel Eto’o, one of the main protagonists of Inter Milan’s treble in 2010, and Mohamed Salah, who was loaned to Fiorentina by Chelsea in January 2015 and then sold to Roma six months later.
African duo Sulley Muntari (left) and Samuel Eto’o (right) enjoyed Inter Milan’s greatest season (2009-10) winning Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles before also claiming the Fifa Club World Cup
Ghanaians lead the way on the list of players from Africa with the most Serie A appearances
Then there are the likes of Ghana’s Sulley Muntari, scouted by Udinese at 16 years of age and successful at both Inter and AC Milan, and Senegal’s Khouma Babacar, who also arrived at Fiorentina as a teenage youth prospect and went on to play for a further five Italian clubs over more than a decade in the country.
But you might not have heard of the first African ever to feature in the Italian league.
Francois Zahoui, a 19-year-old striker from Ivory Coast, made his Serie A debut for Ascoli against Fiorentina on 28 October 1981.
He played 11 times across one season, often being given the unusual task by his manager, Carlo Mazzone, of coming onto the pitch as a late substitute and deliberately getting caught offside to waste time.
Rumour has it the teenager turned up for his first training session barefoot, just as he was used to doing back home, but he went on to put his stamp on Ivorian football as coach of the men’s national team between 2010 and 2012, as well as having spells in charge of Niger and Central African Republic.
Zahoui’s 11 Serie A appearances pale in comparison to Kwadwo Asamoah, who holds the record for an African.
The Ghanaian, who turned out for Udinese, Juventus, Inter and Cagliari, played 279 times in Serie A, just nine ahead of compatriots Muntari and Alfred Duncan. Senegal skipper Kalidou Koulibaly comes next with 236 appearances for Napoli.
This season, 15 African nations have been represented in the top flight by a total of 45 players making at least one appearance.
Nigeria leads the way with eight players, followed by Morocco and Ivory Coast who each have six. Four players have represented Ghana and Cameroon, three from Algeria, The Gambia, and Senegal, two from Equatorial Guinea and one each from Angola, Mali, Guinea, Zambia, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.
Top scorers
While Zahoui was the the first African to play in Serie A, Senegalese defender Roger Mendy was the first to score.
Having joined newly-promoted Pescara, he netted to help his side register a 2-0 home win against Brescia in February 1993. A significant goal for Africa but not for Pescara who were relegated at the end of the season.
African goals have been a constant in the Italian football landscape ever since.
Just behind Osimhen and Weah, Ivorian Franck Kessie managed 41 in 204 games for Atalanta and AC Milan before his move to Barcelona.
Senegal striker Keita Balde also hit 41 for Lazio, Inter, Sampdoria and Cagliari.
Further down the list come Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o and Salah, each with 35 goals.
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen is now Africa’s all-time top scorer in Serie A, having overtaken George Weah
What stands out about this current season is the fact that, with four games left to play, four of the league’s top five scorers are African.
Lautaro Martinez is the man immediately behind Osimhen, but after the Argentine come Senegal and Salernitana forward Boulaye Dia, Nigeria and Atalanta wideman Ademola Lookman, and Angola’s and Spezia’s M’Bala Nzola.
In total, the four Africans have a combined 64 goals between them.
If that was not enough, Malawi and Inter star Tabitha Chawinga is top scorer in the women’s league.
It is also worth noting that the last two winners of Serie A’s player of the year award are of African origin: Romelu Lukaku from Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rafael Leao who plays for Portugal but is of Angolan descent.
Osimhen the record breaker
Osimhen overtaking Weah’s Italian goalscoring record did not go unnoticed in Africa.
Indeed, the great man himself, now president of Liberia, offered “heartfelt congratulations”.
“I am truly proud of your exploits,” the 56-year-old said in a statement on social media
“When I won my first Scudetto with Milan, I said to myself, why one, why not two? I went on to win the Ballon d’Or. So why not two or more for you, Victor? The sky is your limit.
“There are many great African players in European leagues. They are already up against the hurdles of playing against many odds…so to beat the odds and climb to the top is worth our commendation.”
The pair are the only Africans to score at least 10 goals in three consecutive seasons, with Weah achieving the feat in campaigns ending between 1996 and 1998.
Meanwhile, Osimhen’s tallies over the last three seasons have grown in conjunction with Napoli’s league finishes: 10 goals and fifth place in 2020/21; 14 goals and third place in 2021/22; 23 goals and the long-awaited Scudetto triumph this season.
Iconic moments
Be it spectacular goals, outlandish celebrations or crazy hairstyles, Africans have also been responsible for some iconic moments in Italian football over recent decades. Here are just a few.
George Weah’s full-pitch slalom – AC Milan v Verona, 8 September 1996
It is not often you see a player score having carried the ball almost the entire length of the pitch, but that is exactly what George Weah did at the San Siro following a corner for the visiting team.
The Rossoneri striker picked up a loose ball inside his own box and sprinted forward unchallenged until halfway, at which point he started knocking Verona defenders to the ground like ninepins, somehow emerging with the ball from a tangle of yellow-shirted bodies strewn on the turf.
He then proceeded to poke the ball one side of a final opponent before running around the other side and firing low across the goalkeeper from just inside the penalty area.
Majestic, powerful and graceful, his solo run endures as one of Serie A’s greatest ever goals.
Obafemi Martins’ acrobatics – Inter Milan v AC Milan, 13 May 2003
After first playing for Reggiana, Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins made his name at Inter Milan, whose fans loved him not only for his goals but also his flik-flak celebrations. No one in Italy had ever seen anything as spectacular!
His most high-profile strike came in the 2003 Champions League semi-final – a derby against AC Milan. After the first leg ended 0-0, Martins’ late equaliser in the second match gave Inter brief hope of reaching to the final.
Sadly for Oba Oba, as the Nerazzurri faithful called him, the game ended 1-1, allowing Milan to progress on away goals.
But his six tumbles and pop-eyed, screaming celebration remain iconic.
Taribo West’s hair-raising style – Schalke v Inter Milan, 17 March 1998
Along with the likes of Ronaldo and Diego Simeone, Taribo West was one of the rocks upon which Inter built their Uefa Cup-winning side in 1998.
The Nigeria defender scored the decisive extra-time goal in the quarter-final against German side Schalke.
But he is largely remembered for his colourful hair which was died blue and white during his Inter days.
The braids changed to red and white when he crossed the city to join rivals AC Milan, although he only played four times for the Rossoneri so perhaps the new style did not really suit him.
A colourful character in more ways than one, West, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1996, is now a pastor back in Nigeria.
Francois Omam-Biyik signed for Sampdoria in the summer of 1997 but football fans across Italy already knew about the Cameroonian striker.
Seven years earlier, in opening match of the 1990 World Cup in Milan, his header against Maradona’s Argentina had shocked the entire planet as the Indomitable Lions defeated the reigning world champions 1-0.
Omam-Biyik played just six times for Samp, never starting a game, but he had already done enough to make him a legend in Italy.
-BBC
Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own soccer allegiances.
Napoli won their fourth “Scudetto” on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter Milan by one point in a nail-biting end to the season.
The team, captained by Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.
“The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,” the pope said, according to a transcript.
Leo, the first pope to come from the U.S., follows and practices sports, including tennis. People who know him have described him to the media as an AS Roma supporter.
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis gave him a blue Napoli jersey signed by players, bearing the number 10 and his name in Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”.
“You are a number 10, so you are a great striker”, De Laurentiis said. Leo replied with a chuckle and a simple “thank you”.
Coach Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentiis introduced as “deeply Catholic”, knelt down and kissed the pope’s hand, before Leo told him he had seen him many times on TV.
In a short speech, the pontiff stressed the importance of team spirit and collaboration, and sport’s educational value, especially for young people.
Winning comes “at the end of a long journey, where what matters the most is not a one-time exploit or the extraordinary performance of one champion”, he said.
“The championship is won by the team, and when I say ‘team’ I mean the players, the coach with the whole squad, and the club,” he added.
Leo ended his remarks giving his blessings to players and club officials, and offering congratulations, also on behalf of his personal cook.
“She is from Naples and she says: best wishes! She would like to be here too, Mrs Rosa, (she is) a big fan”, the pope said.
-Reuters
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A second-half goal by substitute Ibrahim Sulemana earned Atalanta a 2-1 home win over AS Roma in Serie A on Monday, securing Champions League qualification for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
Sulemana sealed the three points for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area, after Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante cancelled out an early opener by Ademola Lookman.
Atalanta, who fell behind in the title race, sit third in the standings on 71 points and have a seven-point cushion over fourth-placed Juventus and Lazio in fifth with two games left to play.
Roma, who failed to capitalise on Lazio and Juventus dropping points in a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday, are sixth with 63 points.
Atalanta snapped the visitors’ impressive unbeaten league run of 19 games, with Claudio Ranieri’s side previously having been defeated mid-December at Como.
Things started off brightly for Atalanta as Lookman stroked in past Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar to put them in front after nine minutes.
Charles De Ketelaere dribbled past the Roma defence to set the Nigerian up with a precise low cross inside the box and the striker controlled the ball to score inside the right post.
It was Atalanta’s 100th goal this season across all competitions.
De Ketelaere had two good chances to double the advantage but Roma midfielder Cristante levelled for the visitors instead, netting with a flicked header after the half-hour mark.
Things slowed down significantly after a lively first half until Roma were awarded a penalty after an hour of play, following a clash between Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic and Manu Kone.
The referee, however, overturned his decision after consulting VAR.
Sulemana eventually restored the lead for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area — a goal that stood after a VAR check for a potential offside.
Roma host AC Milan next weekend before visiting mid-table Torino in their bid to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
Atalanta travel to Genoa on Sunday before welcoming lowly Parma in their final fixture.
-Reuters
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Paul Pogba can return to competition with the end of his 18-month doping ban on Tuesday, with the 2018 world champion hoping to leave behind three cataclysmic years also marked by injuries and a kidnapping case of which he was the victim.
The long penance of the French international (91 caps), one of the biggest stars in the world of football, is coming to an end and the midfielder will be able to draw a line under what seems like a slow descent into hell.
Suspended for four years after testing positive for non-endogenous testosterone metabolites (DHEA) at the end of the Juventus-Udinese match on August 20, 2023, Pogba saw his sanction reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the CAS considering that the “ingestion” of the substance “was not intentional and resulted from taking a food supplement prescribed by a doctor in Florida.”
Based in Miami, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne, east of Paris, is now ready to bounce back, his Instagram account still very popular (62.7 million followers) multiplies photos of intensive training, with a few fashion shots, another of his passions. Sign of his return, at least in the media, while waiting to be able to resume the thread of his prestigious career.
His ultimate dream remains the 2026 World Cup, but he would first have to find a club. La Pioche (32 years old on March 15), whose contract with Juventus Turin that ran until 2026 was terminated last November, “is training 1000%, he is in good spirits, he has received many offers”, assures a member of his entourage. He is also in regular contact with the coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps, “one of his advisors for sporting decisions”, according to one of his close friends.
But who could be interested in a player whose last match was on September 3, 2023 with Juve?
During one of his rare public appearances, on AmineMaTue’s Twitch channel in January, he explained that he had received ” proposals, not very interesting stuff”, such as “going to play in Russia, but that’s not the goal “.
A contract, he admitted, ” doesn’t depend on me, but on many other things.”
– Strength of character –
David Beckham’s Inter Miami could be a solution. Pogba lives in the Florida metropolis where he bought a house, he was in the stands for the Roses’ first MLS match of the season, against New York City (2-2), on February 23, and he is fine-tuning his fitness with the fitness coach of Lionel Messi, the team’s star.
Olympique de Marseille also sounded him out, and football director Medhi Benatia played with him at Juventus. But OM did not want to take the risk of signing a player whose fitness is surrounded by too many questions.
In any case, morale seems to be at its highest, with Pogba having always maintained his legendary strength of character even in the worst of storms.
“I ‘ve had a difficult year, so I have this rage, this desire to play football and enjoy it until the end of my career,” he said on Al Jazeera channel, just before his positive test.
Also badly affected by the kidnapping case of which he was the victim in 2022, he can now also try to forget this sordid episode with the end of the trial of his attackers at the end of 2024, his brother Mathias and five of his childhood friends having been sentenced to terms of up to eight years in prison.
“I can finally turn the page on this extremely difficult period. This conclusion is an opportunity for everyone to focus on the future. Now that the judgment has been delivered, I can fully concentrate on my return to professional football ,” he wrote to AFP after the verdict.
” That he can rediscover the pleasure of playing on the pitch, that’s all I wish for him because humanly he’s really a good person ,” said Didier Deschamps in 2024.
–Le360/AFP
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