The following is a list of the first black or mixed-race players to represent European international association football teams. The first black man to play international football was Andrew Watson, who earned the first of his three caps for Scotland on 12 March 1881, when he captained them in a 6–1 win away to England at The Oval in London.[1]
Team | Player | Debut | Against | Notes |
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Andrew Watson | 12 March 1881 | ![]() |
Born in Demerara, British Guiana (now Guyana) to an Afro-Guyanese mother and Scottish father.[1]
No black players represented Scotland since Watson until the debut of Nigel Quashie on 27 May 2004. Quashie was born in London to a Ghanaian father and English mother, and qualified for Scotland through a grandfather.[2] |
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Helmut Köglberger | 5 September 1965 | ![]() |
Born in Steyr, Austria to an African-American father and Austrian mother. |
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Dimitri Mbuyu | 4 February 1987 | ![]() |
Born in Berchem, Belgium, of Congolese origin. |
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Sonni Nattestad | 19 November 2013 | ![]() |
Born in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, of Afro-Haitian origin. |
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Raoul Diagne | 15 February 1931 | ![]() |
Diagne was born to Senegalese parents in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana.[3] |
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Eddie Parris | 5 December 1931 | ![]() |
Parris, born to a black Barbadian father and white English mother in Pwllmeyric near Chepstow, played one match for Wales.[4] |
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Erwin Kostedde | 22 December 1974 | ![]() |
Born in Münster to an African-American father and German mother.[5] |
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Daniel Batista Lima | 12 October 1994 | ![]() |
Born in São Vicente, Cape Verde, a naturalised Greek citizen. |
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Viv Anderson | 29 November 1978 | ![]() |
The first black player to represent England at any level was John Charles, who played for the England under 18's in 1962 and scored against Israel.[6] Paul Ince was the nation's first black captain, against the United States in June 1993.[7] |
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Chris Hughton | 29 October 1979 | ![]() |
Hughton was born in London to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother.[8] |
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Donato Gama da Silva | 16 November 1994 | ![]() |
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a naturalised Spanish citizen. The first Spanish-born black player in the team was Vicente Engonga, born in Barcelona to Equatoguinean parents, who debuted against Russia on 23 September 1998. |
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Humphrey Mijnals | 3 April 1960 | ![]() |
Born in Paramaribo, Surinam, then a Dutch plantation colony, played three matches for the Netherlands and 45 matches for Suriname.[9][10][11] |
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John Carew | 18 November 1998 | ![]() |
Born in Akershus, to Gambian father and Norwegian mother.[12] |
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Emmanuel Olisadebe | 16 August 2000 | ![]() |
Born in Warri, Nigeria, a naturalised Polish citizen. |
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Guilherme Espírito Santo | 28 November 1937 | ![]() |
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, of São Toméan descent. |
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Miguel Montuori | 15 February 1956 | ![]() |
Born in Argentina to an Italian father and an Afro-Argentinian mother. |
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Tiago Silva | 17 August 2005 | ![]() |
Born in Taquari, Brazil, a naturalized Bulgarian citizen who had been previously capped for the Brazilian Youth Team. |
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Theodor Gebre Selassie | 4 June 2011 | ![]() |
Born in Třebíč to an Ethiopian father and Czech mother.[13] |
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Raymond Bardel | 15 April 1951 | ![]() |
Born in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, the son of a black American father and a Swiss mother. |
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Anthony Karl Gregory | 8 August 1990 | ![]() |
|
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Eduardo da Silva | 16 November 2004 | ![]() |
Born in Rio de Janeiro to a white Brazilian father and Afro-Brazilian mother, he was naturalised as a Croatian citizen. |
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Karim Guédé | 10 August 2011 | ![]() |
Born in Hamburg to a Togolese mother and French father, he was naturalised as a Slovakian citizen. |
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Jean-Paul Vonderburg | 14 February 1990 | ![]() |
Swedish born. Martin Dahlin appeared for Sweden's Olympic team in 1988. |
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Edmar Halovskyi de Lacerda | 10 August 2011 | ![]() |
Born in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil, he was naturalised as a Ukrainian citizen. |
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Jeff Whitley | 11 February 1997 | ![]() |
Born in Lusaka, Zambia to a Northern Irish father and Zambian mother. |
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Carsten Dethlefsen | 9 March 1994 | ![]() |
Born in Hamburg, Germany but moved to Denmark at the age of 1. |
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Vahap Özaltay | 14 October 1927 | ![]() |
Born in Beirut, Lebanon to Afro-Turk parents. |
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Thomas Sowunmi | 18 August 1999 | ![]() |
Born in Lagos, Nigeria to a Nigerian father and Hungarian mother. |
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Baruch Dego | 12 February 2003 | ![]() |
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian-Jewish family, and immigrated with them to Israel at a young age. Rifaat Turk, very popular player in the 1970s and 1980s, is an Israeli Arab and black in appearance. He later served as deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. |
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Nikolai Alho | 24 January 2014 | ![]() |
Born in Helsinki, Alho also has British citizenship. |
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Dossa Júnior | 15 August 2012 | ![]() |
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, of Mozambican descent, Júnior was naturalised as a Cypriot citizen. |
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Ernani Pereira | 7 October 2006 | ![]() |
Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Pereira was naturalised as an Azeri citizen. |
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Aguinaldo Braga | 17 April 2002 | ![]() |
Born in Moeda, Brazil, was naturalised as a Macedonian citizen. |
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Balep Ba Ndoumbouk | 18 February 2004 | ![]() |
Born in Cameroon, Ba Ndoumbouk was naturalised as an Armenian citizen. |
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Eugène Afrika | 10 October 1998 | ![]() |
|
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Chucks Nwoko | 10 February 1998 | ![]() |
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Nwoko was naturalised as a Maltese citizen. |
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Ari | 15 November 2018 | ![]() |
Born in Fortaleza, Brasil, Ari was naturalised as a Russian citizen. |
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Max Ebong | 9 September 2019 | ![]() |
Born in Vitebsk to a Cameroonian father and Belarusian mother. |
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Justin Ospelt | 7 October 2020 | ![]() |
Born in Nassau, Bahamas. |
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Ricardo Santos Lago | 9 October 2004 | ![]() |
Born in Ilhéus, Brazil, was naturalised as a Bosnian citizen. |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b McGowan, Tom (23 February 2012). "Football pioneer: Andrew Watson - the first black international". CNN. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ Darko, Isaac (22 September 2015). "Ghanaian players who chose Euro nations". Pulse. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "15 février 1931. Le premier footballeur noir en équipe de France est fils de ministre. Scandale..." [15 February 1931. The first black footballer in the France national team is son of minister. Scandal...]. Le Point (in French). 15 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "John Edward ('Eddie') Parris". Historycal Roots. 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "ERWIN KOSTEDDE: THE FIRST BLACK PLAYER FOR GERMANY". DFB. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ Ashdown, Marc (16 October 2019). "First black England player revealed to be John Charles". The Athletic.
- ^ Taylor, Daniel (28 November 2008). "Shy pioneer plays down his place in history". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "Hughton factfile". 6 April 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ "The Italian Exception". The New Yorker. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "Colourful Pioneers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "Humphrey Mijnals (1930)". Kent u deze nog?. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ "John Carew: Why football will never be more important than life and death". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ Petrák, Michal (29 May 2012). "Euro 2012: Czech Republic profile - Theodor Gebre Selassie". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2015.