USA ‘94 World Cup qualifier was one of the most bitterly fought qualifying series in the history of African football. With just three slots available to be grabbed by the then 49-strong CAF’s federation members, the rigorous two-year long World Cup qualifiers of the Africa zone left behind it heavy casualties like, Abedi Pele’s Ghana, Hossam Hassan’s Egypt, Peter Ndlovu’s Zimbabwe, Jule Bucande’s Senegal etc. Two of the flash points in Africa in that era were in Harare and Cairo.
The Peter Ndlovu-inspired golden generation of Zimbabwe had already humbled Egypt that boasted big names likes Hani Ramzy, Ibrahim Hassan, Hossam Hassan, Abdelghani etc, 2 nil in Harare to go top of the 4-team first round group that comprised Egypt, Zimbabwe, Angola and Togo, only for Egypt to narrowly win by 2 -1 in a crowd-induced violence return leg in Cairo. FIFA immediately annulled the result and a rematch was set at a neutral ground in Stade de Gerland, Lyon, France on 15 April 1993 where the match ended 0 – 0 and Zimbabwe proceeded to the final group rounds where they were narrowly eliminated by Cameroon in a 3-team mini final group. This Dream Team of Zimbabwe paraded top athletes like Liverpool’s Bruce Grobelaar, Coventry City’s Peter Ndlovu, Norman Mpensa, Adam Ndlovu and FC Lucerne’s prolific striker, Agent Sawu and many more.
That was by far the most celebrated generation of Zimbabwean footballers ever. Ndlovu went ahead to later become the all time highest scorer for Zimbabwe with 37 goals in 81 full international matches. His love for soccer and his country knew no bounds, He would play on a Saturday afternoon in England and at the end of game he is on a plane to Zimbabwe to play for the national team on a Sunday. Still he would play 90mins and even score.
The English premier league was founded on 20 February 1992 thirty-one years ago and this mercurial Peter Ndlovu who was the pivot point of this much noised Zimbabwea’s Dream Team will forever have the honour of being the Premier League’s first African player and goal scorer, as part of an exciting Coventry City FC side when on 19 August 1992 he accomplished this unique historical feat.
How did this talented player find his way to the top flight of English football that early?
Now let’s go down the memory lane;
On a certain Saturday in 1986 at the age of 14, Peter Ndlovu was the reason why Barbourfields stadium in Bulawayo was filled to the capacity by 11:00am on a match-day. Everyone came that day so early into the stadium to watch this youth prodigy. He was then playing for Highlander’s under 14 junior team. The First team would play at 3pm but crowd stormed the venue so early to catch a glimpse of the budding extraordinary talent who starred for the teenage team that played earlier in the day. That’s how famous he was already in Zimbabwe as a schoolboy. He was originally spotted by John Sillett during this particular match prior to his official signing from Highlanders FC, a Zimbabwean football club based in Bulawayo, by Terry Butcher in July 1991.
He’s the youngest ever in the history of the Zimbabwean league and the only Bosso player to be crowned Soccer Star of the year in two consecutive seasons (1990 and 1991).
Peter Ndlovu nicknamed ‘The Bulawayo Bullet’ and ‘Nsukuzonke’ an isiNdebele word referring to his ability to turn on the style everytime and day he played.
Peter Ndlovu’s premier league’s debut season in 1992-93 finished with a sensational performance in a 3–3 draw against Leeds United. He was super regular throughout the season in Bobby Gould’s fast pacey front line which included John Williams, Kevin Gallacher (until his departure to Blackburn) and Robert Rosario, who formed a worthy partnership with Micky Quinn. Ndlovu scored a wonder goal late September this 1992-93 season against Norwich City, in a 1–1 draw, the goal was so typical of his flair and it earned him the Match of Day ‘Goal of the month’ competition. In 1995 Peter Ndlovu became the first player to score a hat-trick for Coventry City F.C. against Liverpool at Anfield after Nowrich City FC ‘s Terry Allcock in 1962.
Although he subsequently played for several clubs in the First Division, his time at Coventry was clearly the height of his club’s career.
The Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion peoples.
There are 113 different nations that have been represented on the pitch in the Premier League era from 1992 till date, but thirty one years ago, on the opening weekend of the competition, only 47 players in total came from outside the British Isles. Peter Ndlovu was the sole representative from the Africa continent out of these 47. Though the Zimbabwean duo of Bruce Grobbelaar (Liverpool) and Peter Ndlovu (Coventry) were the only two registered players from the Africa continent in the season preceding the inaugural Premier league’s season (1991-92) but the signing of David James from Watford in mid-1992 spelt the beginning of the end for Grobbelaar in the topflight.
Although James struggled to impress at first, Grobbelaar’s national team’s commitment for Zimbabwe gave James chances, so Grobbelaar was already on loan away from Liverpool to the Second Division side Stoke City where he made just four appearances before the inaugural premier league’s season of 1992-93 officially kicked off in August 1992, hence by this, Peter Ndlovu through providence became the only Africa-playing representative by the time the newly branded league started that summer.
Now, contemporarily seeing African players in Premier League action is becoming a more common trend. Legends like Didier Drogba and Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Samuel Eto’o, George Weah, Michael Essien, Tony Yeboah, Noureddine Naybet, Lauren Etame-Mayer etc, came from the continent.
There is a very high number of African players right now in the Premier League, and all of them are representing the continent quite amazingly.
For instance, 2022-23 season had 46 African players registered on the Premier League’s official site. Only four of the 20 clubs in the English top-flight don’t have a player from the continent.
In 2018/19, the three joint-top scorers in the league, each with 22 goals, were Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mané and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – from Egypt, Senegal and Gabon, respectively.
The Premier League has always been a league known for its diversity and inclusivity, and African players have played a crucial role in its success over the years. From Didier Drogba’s great exploits with Chelsea to Yaya Toure’s dominant midfield displays with Manchester City, African players have left an indelible mark on the league.
As the new season kicks off tomorrow, Friday 11 August, looking back to the foundation that was laid by the iconic Peter Ndlovu as the sole representative of the Africa continent in the inaugural season of the 1992-93, we’ll be following the exploits of the almost 50 African players that’ll be on parade in this new 2023-24 season so keenly.
References:
- The premier league’s original foreign players by Adam Bate, Friday 9 September 2022
- Africa’s Growing Premier League Influence by Martin Armstrong, Jan 27, 2022
- “History and time are key to power of football, says Premier League chief”. The Times. 3 July 2013.
- The number of African football players in European leagues tops 500 by Seth Onyango, May 2022
