European Pioneers Ethnic minority players have been playing at the highest levels in Europe since the 18th century.
#FootballPeople educational resources
Andrew Watson, Scotland The first black player to play football at international level
Abdelrahman Fawzi, Egypt The first Arab and African to score in a World Cup
Raymond Bardel, Switzerland The first black player to play for Switzerland
Laurie Cunningham, England The first black player to play for England at any level
Gheorghe Hagi, Romania One of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s and the most successful Roma in football ever
Dimitri M’Buyu, Belgium The first black player to play for Belgium
Ronaldo Luíz Nazário de Lima, Brazil Won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times, the Ballon d’Or twice as well as the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. Had scored over 200 goals for club and country by age 23
Fabio Liverani, Italy The first black player to play for Italy
Samuel Eto’o, Cameroon Won the African Player of the Year award four times
Luis Robson, Brazil/Russia One of the first foreign black players in Russia
Arthur Wharton, England The world’s first black professional player
Frank Soo, England to play The only ethnic Chinese footballer for England
Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, Portugal All-time record goal scorer for club and country
Cyrille Regis, England Pioneer of British Football in the Caribbean
England Rab “Rabbi” Howell, to play for England yer pla ni ma Ro The first
Guilherme Espirito Santo, Portugal The first black player to play for Portugal
Humphrey Mijnals, Netherlands First black player to play for the Netherlands
Paulino Alcántara, Spain The first Asian player to play for a European club
Raoul Diagne, France France The first black player to play for
Alhaji Momodo Njie , Gam bia The first Gambian football er to play professionally abroad
Carsten Dethlefsen, Denmark The first black player to play for Denmark
Chris Hughton, Republic of Ireland The first black player to start for Ireland
Justin Fashanu, England footballer The first openly gay professional
Mehmet Scholl, Germany Player of Turkish background who played 36 matches for Germany
Anthony Baffoe, Ghana players One of the first high-profile black iga desl Bun in the
George Weah, Liberia First African player to win the FIFA World Player of the Year Award
Jean -Paul Vonderburg, Sweden The first black player to play for Sweden
Vicente Engonga, Spain The first Spanish-born blac k player in the Spanish national team
Bănel Nicoliță, Târgu Mures Leading Romanian player who is an ethnic Roma
na Gerald Asamoah, Germany/Gha The first African-born player to play for Germany
Thierry Henry, France All-time leading goalscorer for the French national team and Arsenal FC
André-Pierre Gignac, France ani French international player of Rom descent
Claudio Pizarro, Germany/Peru Top scoring foreign-born player in German Bundesliga history
Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Netherlands Most capped ethnic minority player in the Netherlands
Alessandro Santos, Japan Brazil-born, Japanese internatio nal
Eduardo da Silva, Croatia/Brazil Brazilian-born, the first black player to play for Croatia
Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast Has scored more goals for Chelsea than any other non-English player
John Carew, Norway Norway The first black player to play for
Daniel Bekono, Cameroon / Bulgaria First black player to captain a team in Bulgaria
Freddy Eastwood, England English Romani player
Mohammed Salim, India/Scotland sh club The first Indian to play for a Briti FC) tic (Cel
Coşkun Taş, Turkey One of the first footballers of Turkish origin in Germany
Galimzyan Khusainov, Russia Spartak Moscow star of Tatar origin
Donato Gama da Silva, Spain Brazilian born, he was the first black player for Spain
Daniel Batista Lima, Greece/Cape Verde The first black player to play for Greece
Zinedine Zidane, France FIFA Player of the Year three times, of Algerian descent
Emmanuel Olisadebe, Poland/Nigeria Legendary first black player to play for Poland
Mehmet Aurélio, Turkey/Brazil The first black player to play for Turkey
Lucio Vagner, Brazil / Bulgaria Born in Brazil, the first black player to play for Bulgaria
Peter Odemwingie, Nigeria/Russia The first black USSR-born player to play in Russia
Global Pioneers Women have a long history as players, now they are also making their mark as leaders, managers and referees.
#FootballPeople educational resources
Emma Clarke, England Britain´s first black female footballer
Alice Milliat, France Created France’s first women’s football team, in 1920
Lily Parr, England English Football Hall The only woman in the of Fame
Hope Powell, England The first black manager of any English national team
Ángeles Parejo, Spain Played in the 1997 European Championships, scoring 3 goals to help Spain reach the semi-finals
Anita Pádár, Hungary record Holds the Hungarian national team s goal and caps t for mos
Hege Riise, Norway Won the Olympics, the World Cup and the European Championship
Karen Espelund, Norway A’s The first female member of UEF e mitte Executive Com
Patrizia Panico, Italy First female to manage a male national team in Italy
Sanna Valkonen, Finland Captain of the Finnish national team and played 120 games for her country
Sun Wen, China The only Chinese woman to play in four World Cups
Mia Hamm, United States One of the most prolific U.S . strikers of all time
Anne Mäkinen, Finland The first female Finnish player to play in the WUSA
Elena Fomina, Russia Scored the winning goal in a World Cup opening game
Laura Österberg Kalmari, Finland Finland’s most capped female player and all-time record goalscorer
Nadine Angerer, Germany First goalkeeper to win FIFA World Player of the Year
Elena Danilova, Russia Scored to earn Russia their first trophy post-USSR times
Marta, Brazil Won FIFA World Player of the Year five times consecutively
Khalida Popal, Afghanistan First captain of the Afghan women’s national football team
Bibiana Steinhaus, Germany The first female referee in German professional football
Emily Lima, Brazil Brazil’s The first female coach to manage women’s team
Lydia Nsekera, Burundi First woman appointed to the FIFA Executive Committee
Sandrine Soubeyrand, France France’s most capped football player in male or female competition
Hedvig Lindahl, Sweden named in Swedish goalkeeper of the year, XI ld Wor ro FIFP the
Nina Burger, Austria ÖFB-Frauenliga’s top scorer for six seasons in Austria
Corinne Diacre, France First female manager of a men’s football team in France
Birgit Prinz, Germany Second top all-time leading scorer at the FIFA Women’s World Cup
Helena Costa, Portugal Former scout and first Portuguese female coach of a professional male football club
Marinet te Pichon, France One of France’s most capped play ers of all time
Sisleide do Amor Lima, Brazil A FIFA ambassador for the Women’s World Cup
Hope Solo, United States Holds the U.S. record for most career clean sheets
Sandra Žigić, Croatia Most capped female player in Croa
tia
Jaiyah Saelua, America Samoa First transgender international footballer
Casey Stoney, England England international and LGBT role model
Homare Sawa, Japan ning Captain of Japan’s World Cup -win team
Mar tina Moser, Switzerland Holds the record of most cap s won for her country
Steffi Jones, Germany FIFA global ambassador, organised the 2011 Women’s World Cup
Kateryna Monzul, Ukraine h in The first woman to referee a matc ue leag ier Ukraine’s Prem
Vanessa Arauz, Ecuador Youngest coach ever in a FIFA
World Cup
Senegal Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura , le fema and pean Euro nonFIFA’s first Secretar y General
Pia Sundhage, Sweden hes One of the first female football coac worldwide
Monika Staab, Germany One of the game’s most successful female managers
Abby Wambach, United States Holds the U.S. record for most international goals scored
Chan Yuen Ting, Hong Kong First female coach in the Asian Champions League
Kelly Smith, England England’s first professional female player
Megan Rapinoe, United States World Cup and Olympic Champion and LGBTI activist
Vera Pauw, Netherlands First female Dutch player to play professionally in Italy
Lara Dickenmann, Switzerland Holds the record of most goals scored for Switzerland
Verónica Boquete, Spain Captained Spain at their first ever Women’s World Cup appearance in 2015
Marta Torrejón, Spain Spain’s most capped female player