Drogba, Yekini, And Other Top African Players To Emerge Topscorer In Europe's Big Leagues

Africans and goal-scoring are not words you find in your everyday football sentences. Africans are seen to be just physical with many European clubs preferring to have them in the middle of the park or at the heart of the defence.

For those who are fortunate to be at the tip of the spear, the competition with so many top European players is so fierce and it takes mastery to edge it out.

Nigeria's Kayode Olanrewaju was able to hold on to win the Austrian Bundesliga's top scorer award bagging 17 goals in 33 appearances for Austria Wien, a feat last done by an African in 1994.

He would not be the second African to win a top scorer award as many greats have achieved this feat. To this, we decided to bring to you the top goalscorers in Europe's big leagues. 

*The leagues were selected based on their current UEFA standings and limited to within the last 30 years.

Spanish La Liga
Samuel Eto'o won the coveted Pichichi award in 2006 with Barcelona when he bagged 26 goals in 34 appearances with the Catalan giants. He would win the award on the final matchday of the season and grab the award after missing out on it the previous season.

Eto'o would win the CAF's Best Player Award, UEFA Forward of the Year, and finish third in FIFA's World Best Player awards. He would go on to score 130 goals in 199 appearances for Barcelona. The Cameroonian is the only African player to win the award.

German Bundesliga
Anthony Yeboah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would remain the only African players to win the Trojagerkanone in Germany with the latter doing so in just concluded 2016/2017 season.

Aubameyang would finish as top marksman with 31 goals also winning the award on final day. But before him would be legendary Anthony Yeboah.

The Ghanaian forward would win the award consecutively in 1993 and 1994 with 20 and 18 goals respectively, although he would have to share both awards as he finished joint top scorer.

English Premier League
Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast remains the only African to win the Golden Boot in the Premier League. The Chelsea legend would win the award twice, first in 2007 and later in 2010.

The Ivorian bagged 20 in 36 in his first win and 29 in 32 in his second triumph. Drogba would go on to score 164 goals in 381 appearances for the club.

French Ligue 1
Moussa Sow, Mamadou Niang, and Shabani Nonda are the African players to win the Ligue 1 top scorer award. Sow and Niang would lead the charts in the season in which their clubs would win the league.

Sow would bag 25 goals in 36 games for Lille while Niang would hit 18 goals in 32 games for Marseille. While DR Congo's Nonda would score 26 goals in 35 for Monaco.

Russian Premier League
Ivory Coast's Seydou Doumbia is the only African to win the top scorer award in the Russian Premier League.

The Ivorian would win the award twice. First in 2012 with 28 goals and later in 2014 with 18 goals. Both awards would come during his stint with CSKA Moscow.

Portuguese Primeira Liga
Super Eagles legend Rashidi Yekini and Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy are the two players to win the prestigious award in Portugal's top division.

Late Yekini would bag the award with Vitoria de Setubal with 21 goals in the 1993/1994 season with Benni McCarthy winning the award 10 years later during his stint with Porto scoring 20 goals.

Ukrainian Premier League
Nigerian Emmanuel Okoduwa would win the top scorer award in Ukraine during his time with Arsenal Kyviv.

The Nigerian forward would jointly share the award after finishing the 2005/2006 season level on 15 goals with Brazilian striker Brandao.

Belgian First Division A
A league that has served as a stepping stone for Nigerians to the bigger leagues, little surprise to know that there are two Nigerians to win the top scorer award.

Tosin Dosunmu and Joseph Akpala are the only Africans to emerge top scorers in Belgium. Both Nigerians would finish top scorers with 18 goals with the former in the 2005/2006 campaign and Akpala, two years later, in the 2007/2008 season.

Turkish Super Lig
Moroccan Aatif Chahechouhe would be crowned Gol Kralı (Goal King) after topping the charts with 17 goals in 27 appearances for Sivasspor.

His goals in the 2013-14 season would help his club to a 5th-place finish and qualification to the Europa League. Towards the end of the season, he received his first international call up for Morocco's friendly match with Gabon