Former Nigeria international Vincent Enyeama has been named the greatest African goalkeeper ever.
Enyeama was named Africa’s all-time best by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
The IFFHS released the list of greatest goalkeepers in each federation, with Enyeama selected from CAF. The all-time goalkeeper ranking was decided from 1987 to 2022
Italy’s 2006 World Cup winner, Gianluigi Buffon, was named the greatest goalkeeper from Europe of all time.
Jose Luis Chilavert was picked as South America’s greatest, Mohamed Abdulaziz Al-Deayea of Saudi Arabia was selected for Asia, former Real Madrid and Costa Rica shot stopper Keylor Navas got the nod in CONCACAF. In contrast, former Manchester United goalie was picked for Oceania.
Enyeama represented Nigeria at three FIFA World Cups: the 2002 one in Korea/Japan, the 2010 one in South Africa, and the 2014 one in Brazil.
He featured in all the Super Eagles’ matches as they became African champions at the 2013 AFCON in South Africa.
Also, he helped Enyeama to back-to-back CAF Champions League titles one 2003 and 2004.
The IFFHS is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football.
It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. It was based in Abu Dhabi for some time but, in 2010, relocated to Bonn, Germany, and then in 2014 to Zürich.
Although IFFHS is not affiliated with FIFA, the world football governing body has cited awards and records conducted by IFFHS on its website.
National Career
Enyeama debuted for the Nigeria national football team against Kenya in May 2002. He was the national team’s first-choice goalkeeper until 2015 when he retired.
He became the most-capped footballer in 2015 after making his 100th appearance against Uganda in a 1–0 loss.
Vincent won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria, captaining the team for almost all matches as Joseph Yobo, Nigeria’s Captain, was always on the bench.
Current Job
In June 2020, Vincent Enyeama was appointed by France Club, Iris Club de Croix, to become their goalkeeper trainer/coach.
After agreeing with Enyeama, the club announced the signing on their official Facebook account.
It stated that Enyeama would serve as a coach for the reserve team goalkeeper and the under-16 team.
Enyeama is still very active with the club and seems set to continue with them in 2022. However, the salary structure of the team is unknown.
