THE 1998/99 RANKING: The Unnoticed Leap
African Players in the German Bundesliga
 
This is a component of AFRICAN PLAYERS TO WATCH IN GERMANY
 by THE SHOT THAT PASSED RIGHT THROUGH THE NET
 
 
Anthony Yeboah had a surprise comeback to the top of African players in the Bundesliga. After he had been criticised last year he came back after the summer break in a different physical shape and played sensationally all 34 matches without injury or suspension to score 14 goals.
 Compared to the year before, the number of players and their success has rapidely increased (see figures at bottom of page): the unnoticed leap.
 The ranking also shows a breakthrough in acceptance for North African players. Their playing style has not always been fully appreciated by the press, but Radwan Yassers performance and SC Freiburg's success have changed a lot here. And Hany Ramzy's average shows, he is much better than talked by some.
 Also African players are now accepted on all positions except goalkeeper.
 The ranking also shows that players who perform regularly at medium clubs do much better than those who have part time jobs at the big ones, though those are more often on the winning side. Bachirou Salou lost his first place of last year (with MSV Duisburg) and Samuel Osei Kuffour who should be number 1, considering the potential his rare performances suggest, is only number 17 with just 15 matches played. Such also has negative effect on confidence and ability.
 The strongest tendency up have had Delron Buckley (#4), despite his club being relegated, and, considered the development from first to second half, Victor Agali (#12).

 *rating average: how Germanies' most competent football magazine 'kicker' rated the player each match (appearances under 30 minutes were not rated). The best rating is 1, the worst is 6.
 **index is a value made of the number of mnatches and the ratings. A suspension has a slight negative effect while goals are not taken into account. 10 is a higher index than 9.
Rank Player Position Country Club Matches Goals Red Cards Rating Avg.* INDEX ** last year tendency comments
1 Anthony Yeboah forward Ghana (7) Hamburger SV 34 14 - 3,4 10,0 5,3 +4,7 stays one more year
2 Radwan Yasser midfield Egypt (13) Hansa Rostock 33 1 - 3,4 9,7 6,1 +3,6 stays
3 Zoubaier Baya midfield Tunisia (12) SC Freiburg 32 6 - 3,3 9,7 2nd Bundesliga   stays
4 Delron Buckley midfield/ forward South Africa (17) VfL Bochum 33 5 - 3,7 8,9 1,4 +7,5 Bochum relegated 
future uncertain
5 Hany Ramzy defender Egypt (5) 1.FC Kaiserslautern 32 3 - 3,6 8,9 6,8 +2,1 stays
6 Charles Akonnor midfield  Ghana (6) VfL Wolfsburg 32 6 - 3,7 8,6 2nd Bundesliga   stays
7 Pablo Thiam defender/ midfield Guinea (11) VfB Stuttgart 27 2 1 3,3 7,9 7,0 +0,9 stays
8 Adel Sellimi forward Tunisia (12) SC Freiburg 30 1 - 3,9 7,7 new   stays
9 Abderrahim Ouakili midfield/ forward Morocco (9) Munich 1860 27 3 - 3,8 7,1 3,4 +3,7 changes to Tennis Borussia Berlin (2nd Bundesliga)
10 Bachirou Salou forward Togo (4) Borussia Dortmund 26 5 - 3,8 6,8 10,0 -3,2 stays
11 Jonathan Akpoborie forward Nigeria (11) VfB Stuttgart 28 11 - 4,2 6,7 8,6 -1,9 changes to VfL Wolfsburg
12 Victor Agali forward Nigeria (13) Hansa Rostock 22 6 1 3,4 6,2 new   had a sensational second half, stays
13 Bradley Carnell defender/ midfield left South Africa (11) VfB Stuttgart 20 2 - 3,4 5,9 new   stays
14 Mehdi Ben Slimane forward Tunisia (12) SC Freiburg 22 1 - 4,0 5,5 2nd Bundesliga   stays
15 Samir Kamouna defender Egypt (5) 1.FC Kaiserslautern 19 1 - 4,1 4,6 new   stays
16 Boubacar Diarra defender Mali (12) SC Freiburg 16 0 1 3,3 4,5 2nd Bundesliga   stays
17 Samuel Osei Kuffour defender Ghana (1) Bayern München 15 0 1 3,5 4,0 5,0 -1,0 stays (a bit unceratin)
18 Mohamed Emara midfield left Egypt (13) Hansa Rostock 14 0 - 4,0 3,5 new   stays
19 Alphonse Tchami forward Cameroon (3) Hertha BSC Berlin 11 2 - 4,3 2,6 4,7 -2,1 uncertain
20 Ibrahim Tanko midfield/ forward Ghana (4) Borussia Dortmund 7 0 - 4,5 1,6 0,6 +1,0 ?
21 Mamadou Diallo forward Senegal (8) MSV Duisburg 7 0 - 4,7 1,5 new   leaves
22 Mourad Bounoua midfield Morocco (15) Eintracht Frankfurt 7 0 - 5,0 1,4 new   changes to Eintracht Braunschweig (Regionalliga (=3rd level)
23 Miguel Francisco Pereira forward Angola (10) Schalke 04 5 0 - 5,0 1,0 0,0 +1,0 uncertain
24 Pascal Ojigwe midfield Nigeria (5) 1.FC Kaiserslautern 4 0 1 4,0 0,8 0,0 +0,8 played some Champions League and is regular player for the 2nd team, stays
25 Henry Nwosu forward Nigeria (15) Eintracht Frankfurt 4 0 - - 0 new   leaves
26 Ahmed Salah Hosny forward ? (11) VfB Stuttgart 2 0 - - 0 new   ? (regular player for 2nd team)
27 Awudu Issaka defender Ghana (9) Munich 1860 1 0 - - 0 new   ?
some comparison:
Lothar Matthäus: 8,3, Thomas Haessler 4,9, Jürgen Kohler 9,7
the best 1998/99: Oka Nikolov (goalkeeper, Eintracht Frankfurt): 12,6
the best field players: Jens Nowotny (defender, Bayer Leverkusen): 11,4; Jens Jeremies (midfield, Bayern): 10,7
the Asian players: Ali Daei (forward, Bayern, Iran): 6,2; Chen Yang (forward, E.Frankfurt, China) 6,1; Mehdi Mahdavikia (midf/forw, VfL Bochum, Iran) 3,0

some data:
number of Africans who played: 26 (last year: 18)
number of high indexed African players (Index > 7.5): 8 (last year: 2)
number of Africans as regular players for their teams (2/3 of the matches or more): 11 (last year: 7),
number of African players relegated with their clubs*: 1 (last year: 3) (*regardless whether they will stay or not)
number of African players becoming champion with their clubs: 1 (last year: 1)
number of Bundesliga teams with no African player: 4 (Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, 1.FC Nürnberg, Borussia Mönchengladbach) (last year: 4)
(Werder Bremen lost its African player and dropped from 7 to 13, VfL Wolfsburg won one and moved up to 6)
number of Bundesliga teams in which African players reached an aggregated total of more than 34 matches: 4 (1.FC Kaiserslautern (55), VfB Stuttgart (77), SC Freiburg (100), Hansa Rostock(69))
last year there had been no team with more than 2 African players and the highest number had been 38 matches aggregated (Abedi Pele and Ouakili at Munich 60).
1998/99 there were 2 teams with 4 players (VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg) and 2 teams with 3 players from the African continent (1.FC Kaiserslautern, Hansa Rostock)
 

Top rated African Of the 2nd division:
2nd league not yet finished
 
 
© by THE SHOT THAT PASSED RIGHT THROUGH THE NET