Top Africans To Win The Europa League Since The Turn Of The Millennium

Today, Man Utd and Ajax would battle it out to win the 2017 Europa League. The Red Devils have it all to do as winning the trophy guarantees the club would be in the Champions League next season while Ajax already in at the qualifying rounds would be hoping to win to get an automatic entry at the group stages.

Bertrand Traore and Andre Onana are the African players who have the chance to win it with Ajax with Eric Baily from Ivory Coast hoping his Man Utd colleagues would do the job for him as he is suspended from the final game.

To this, we decided to dig deep and bring to you the top African players to win the Europa League since 2000.

Christian Gyan and Bonaventure Kalou
Winners of the UEFA Cup Final 2002 final with Feyenoord against Dortmund. Gyan from Ghana and Kalou of Ivory Coast were both mainstays of the Dutch Giants.

Feyenoord would beat Dortmund 3-2 in a game that would feature then Super Eagles' captain Sunday Oliseh. Gyan would appear 23 times for the Black Stars while Kalou would feature 47 times for the Elephants bagging 10 goals in an impressive overall career.

Mohamed Sissoko
Malian midfielder Mohamed Sissoko would cap a good run with Valencia with a UEFA Cup medal when the Spanish team would triumph over a Marseille side that had legendary Didier Drogba in it.

Valencia would 2-0 in what would be Benitez's last game for Los Che before the Spaniard would also come calling for the player at the end of the following season winning an FA Cup title after the Reds had won the Champions League earlier.

Chidi Odiah
The energetic full back for the Super Eagles and CSKA Moscow, Chidi Odiah would have the best of seasons when he would win the UEFA Cup final in 2005 against Sporting Lisbon.

The Nigerian defender would achieve the treble of titles winning the Russian League and the Russian Cup as well. He turned out 146 times for the Russian giants scoring five goals from his defensive position.

Frederic Kanoute
The African Legend himself. The Malian striker helped Sevilla to a 4-0 victory against Middlesbrough in the 2006 Cup final coming off the bench to grab a goal for the Spanish side denying Yakubu Aiyegbeni a chance to lay hands on the trophy.

He would repeat the feat the following season, scoring a goal and converting his spotkick as the game against Espanyol would go into penalties. The towering striker scored 216 goals in about 554 matches he played in his career.

Victor Moses and Mikel Obi
The Nigerian duo would win the Europa League in 2013 courtesy of a 2-1 over Benfica. The Blues had won the Champions League earlier the previous season and had crashed out of the group stages to the Europa League.

Although the two Nigerians would get no minutes in the finals as they remained on the bench, Chelsea rode on the back of an impressive form of Victor Moses who took his chances in the Europa League. Both players are still important figures in the Nigerian National team with Mikel Obi, the Super Eagles' current captain.

Stephane Mbia
The Cameroonian defensive midfielder was part of the Sevilla team to win the Europa League in 2014 against Benfica who had lost in the previous season to Chelsea.

In a stalemate that proceeded to penalties, Mbia kept his cool to convert his as the Spanish side were 100% from the spot. Sevilla would win the following season against with Mbia as they defeated Dnipro 3-2. Mbia currently plays for Hebei China Fortune F.C.