Samuel Kuffour: The Best Defender out of Africa

When it comes to tasting both success and failure in equal measures, there is no other African footballer that can beat Samuel Osei Kuffour to the award. Born in Kumasi Ghana in 1976, Kuffour started his career in his early teens, an occurrence that is not familiar in African football. At the age of 16, he had already tasted numerous successes with the youth side of Ghana and by the age of 15, he was already plying his trade in Europe by Torino in Italy. He did appear at one FIFA world cup with the national team and four Africa nations cup, before hanging his playing boots in 2009.

Even though it was Torino that brought Samuel Kuffour to the big European stage, he had his breakthrough at Bayern Munich and won close to 17 titles during his stint with the Bavarians. It was at Bayern Munich that Samuel Kuffour came to world attention as the marauding and physically powerful right back who was always ready to put his life in the line for the team's success. This was no more evident than in 1999 when Bayern Munich lost to Manchester United at the UEFA Champions League final with two late and devastating goals. Remaining as one of the most memorable and heartbreaking moments in European football, Samuel Kuffour was filmed thumping his fists to the ground in anger and frustration and cried uncontrollably at losing, a feat that endeared him to the fans of Bayern Munich. Despite the heartbreak of 1999, Samuel Kuffour helped his team to the UEFA Champions League glory two seasons later in 2001. Having made his debut for Bayern Munich in 1993, Kuffour became the youngest defender of all time to score in a champions league match. He also appeared in 60 UEFA matches, thereby becoming the most decorated African player in the UEFA Champion League.

After 11 seasons at Bayern Munich, Samuel Kuffour won 17 major titles, 6 of them being the Bundesliga title. With the German club failing to renew his contract in 2005, Kuffour signed for Italian side AS Roma, made a few appearances for his new club before being loaned to another Italian side Livorno. This was followed with other unsuccessful stints in Holland, Russia and his native Ghana before hanging his boots.

Samuel Kuffour is known as one of the few African footballers to have started their career in their teens. At the age of 13, he was already in the Ghana squad that won the under 17 FIFA World Cup in 1991. He also won silver at the same championship in 1993, as well as becoming the runners up to Brazil at the under 20 FIFA World Cup that very year. As far as Olympic football is concerned, Samuel Kuffour won the bronze medal as a 16-year-old during the 1992 summer Olympics and reached the quarter-finals again in 1996. As a member of the senior squad, Samuel Kuffour represented Ghana in 4 Africa nations cup and at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he was dropped from the first team after a costly mistake in Ghana's first world cup match against Italy.