- Vincent Enyeama was named the greatest African goalkeeper of all time by IFFHS.
The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named former Nigerian International Vincent Enyeama the greatest African goalkeeper ever. Established in 1984 by Alfredo Poge in Leipzig, IFFHS is an organization that records the history of association football.
According to the list, the IFFHS released of the greatest goalkeepers in each federation, Enyeama was selected from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the ranking was decided from 1987 to 2022.
Vincent Enyeama has represented Nigeria three times at the FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan in 2002, South Africa in 2010, and Brazil in 2014. At the 2013 AFCON in South Africa, he featured in all the Super Eagles’ matches and they became the African Champion. In 2003 and 2004, he assisted Enyimba in winning the CAF Champions League titles.
Vincent, despite his below-average height for a goalkeeper, is popularly known as one of the greatest African goalkeepers of all time and of his era. Throughout his senior career which spanned almost 20 years, he played for Ibom Stars, Enyimba, Iwuanyanwu Nationalem Bnei Yehuda, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Lille, and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
From 2002 to October 2015, he was a member of the Nigeria national team, serving as its captain from 2013 until his retirement from international football in 2015. He held the record for most caps won by a Nigerian player with 101 until Ahmed Musa beat him in November 2021. He also held the crown of the IFFHS CAF Men’s Team of the Decade from 2011-2020.
In addition, the world football governing body, FIFA is not associated with IFFHS, although FIFA has cited awards and records conducted by IFFHS.