List of first black players for European national football teams

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 Notes
 Scotland Andrew Watson  England, 12 March 1881 Born in Demerara, British Guiana (now Guyana) to a Scottish father and Afro-Guyanese mother.[1]

No black players represented Scotland since Watson until the debut of Nigel Quashie on 27 May 2004. Quashie was born in London to an English mother and Ghanaian father, and qualified for Scotland through a grandfather.[2]

 France Raoul Diagne  Czechoslovakia, 15 February 1931 Diagne was born to Senegalese parents in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana.[3]
 Wales Eddie Parris  Northern Ireland, 5 December 1931 Parris, born to Jamaican parents in Pwllmeyric near Chepstow, played one match for Wales.[4]
 Germany Erwin Kostedde  Malta, 22 December 1974 Born in Münster to an African-American father and German mother.[5]
 England Viv Anderson  Czechoslovakia, 29 November 1978 The first black player to represent England at any level was Benjamin Odeje, for the english schoolboys team against Northern Ireland in 1971.[6] Paul Ince was the nation's first black captain, against the United States in June 1993.[7]
 Republic of Ireland Chris Hughton  United States, 29 October 1979 Hughton was born in London to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother.[8]
 Spain Donato Gama da Silva  Denmark, 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.
 Norway John Carew  Egypt, 18 November 1998 Born in Akershus, of Gambian origin.[9]
 Poland Emmanuel Olisadebe  Romania, 16 August 2000 Born in Warri, Nigeria, a naturalised Polish citizen.
 Italy Fabio Liverani  South Africa, 25 April 2001 Born in Rome to a Somali mother and Italian father.[10]
 Czech Republic Theodor Gebre Selassie  Peru, 4 June 2011 Born in Třebíč to a Czech mother and Ethiopian father.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McGowan, Tom (23 February 2012). "Football pioneer: Andrew Watson - the first black international". CNN. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Darko, Isaac (22 September 2015). "Ghanaian players who chose Euro nations". Pulse. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "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.
  4. ↑ Shipton, Martin (8 August 2008). "Move to honour Wales' first black footballer". Wales Online. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "ERWIN KOSTEDDE: THE FIRST BLACK PLAYER FOR GERMANY". DFB. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Ashdown, Marc (24 May 2013). "First black England player revealed to be Benjamin Odeje". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Taylor, Daniel (28 November 2008). "Shy pioneer plays down his place in history". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Hughton factfile". 6 April 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "John Carew: Why football will never be more important than life and death". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Liverani is first black player to win Italy cap". The Guardian. 25 April 2001. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Petrák, Michal (29 May 2012). "Euro 2012: Czech Republic profile - Theodor Gebre Selassie". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
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