Ghana

1. Asamoah Gyan – Goals: 51
2. Edward Acquah – Goals: 48
3. Kwasi Owusu – Goals: 42
4. Karim Abdul Razak – Goals: 41
5. Andre Ayew – Goals: 37

Abedi Pele is one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest African footballers of all time. Although he never played in a World Cup, the attacking midfielder won an Africa Cup of Nations and a UEFA Champions League. He scored 19 times for Ghana in 73 appearances and won three consecutive African Player of the Year awards from 1991-1993.

Asamoah Gyan is Ghana’s all time leading scorer and was the youngest player to ever score for Ghana at 17 years and 362 days. Gyan is the leading African goalscorer in World Cup history, with six. The striker is a two-time Ghana player of the year.

Tony Yeboah won the Bundesliga Golden Boot on two occasions and was a prolific striker. He scored 29 times for Ghana in 59 caps and played in three Africa Cup of Nations. Yeboah also became the first ever African captain in the Bundesliga during his time with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Karim Abdul Razak, often referred to as the “Golden Boy”, scored two game winning goals as Ghana won the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations. The midfielder won the tournament’s Best Player award and was also the African Footballer of the Year in 1978. A goalscoring midfielder, he totaled 25 goals for Ghana in 70 appearances.

Michael Essien was one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime and was briefly the most expensive African signing ever. Essien was nominated for the Ballon d’Or three times while playing for Chelsea and played in two World Cups for Ghana national football team. He won all four trophies in England with Chelsea and won the UEFA Champions League in 2012.

Samuel Kuffour was voted one of the top 30 African players of all time in 2007. A defender who spent over a decade with Bayern Munich, Kuffour made 54 appearances for the national team. He appeared at the 2006 World Cup and was a three-time Ghana Player of the Year.

Coming off an impressive performance in 2006, Ghana built on their success at South Africa 2010. Gyan scored the game’s only goal in the opener vs. Serbia to secure an important three points. Gyan once again scored a penalty vs. Australia but the game finished 1-1.

Even though the Black Stars fell 1-0 to Germany in their group stage finale, they held the tiebreaker over Australia. So, Ghana once again became the only African team to make the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup.

In a hard fought round of 16 clash vs. the USA, the match finished 1-1. In extra time, Gyan was the hero once again as he scored Ghana’s winner. Advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time in their history, Ghana met Uruguay in Johannesburg.

Sulley Muntari scored just before the first half to give Ghana a 1-0 lead. Diego Forlan, later voted the tournament’s best player, equalized 10 minutes into the second half. A contentious match went into extra time.

Deep into the extra time period, Ghana nearly scored but Uruguay’s Luis Suarez handballed the ball off of the goal line. Suarez was sent off for unsportsmanlike play and Ghana were awarded a penalty.

Asamoah Gyan, who had previously scored two penalties during the World Cup, hit the crossbar and the ball careened out of bounds. The match then went into a penalty kick shootout, where Gyan redeemed himself by scoring Ghana’s opening penalty; however, the Black Stars lost 4-2 and were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.

With two consecutive knockout stage berths heading into, hopes were high for Ghana at the 2014 World Cup. The Black Stars faced USA in their opener, who they had beaten at the previous two World Cups. The third time’s the charm for the Americans as they won 2-1.

Ghana did pick up an impressive 2-2 draw in their next match vs. Germany as Andre Ayew and Gyan scored. With their group stage finale vs. Portugal level at 1-1 with ten minutes remaining, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock. Ghana fell 2-1 and were eliminated in the group stage for the first time in their World Cup history.