19 African players have won Champions league but only 3 are Nigerians

In the last three decades - 1983 - 2018, 19 football players from different parts of Africa have won the Champions League. However, only three of these players are Nigerians.

Two Nigerians, Kanu Nwankwo, and Finidi George were the first to win the Champions League in the 1994/1995 season while playing for Ajax Amsterdam.

Kanu and Finidi both played in the finals when Ajax Amsterdam defeated AC Milan 1-0 in the final to win the 40th season of the Champions league in Vienna, Austria.

Interestingly at the 41st season (1995-1996 season), both Kanu and Finidi were back in the final with Ajax against Juventus.

However, both Nigerian players lost their bid to win their second Champions League title as the match ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time, forcing a penalty shoot-out, which Juventus won 4–2 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy.

16 seasons after Kanu Nwankwo and Finidi George lost their bid to register themselves as two times winners of the Champions League, another Nigerian, John Mikel Obi became the third Nigerian to win the Champions League.

For Mikel, he won the 57th season of the Champions league in 2012 when he represented England’s Chelsea against German’s Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

The 2014/15 UEFA Champions League is currently underway and a number of African soccer stars have already started to shine for their respective teams.

The Nigerian stars join 16 other African players, who have gone down in history as winners of the Champions League.