Elite players who played on three or more continents

Football is the most global of sports, and some top players have been to more corners of the globe than most.

Here, we take a look at those who plied their trade on at least three continents, covering Europe, South America, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Let’s get stuck right in, shall we?

Robbie Keane scored over 100 goals in both Europe – mostly for Tottenham – and North America – where he won three MLS titles with the LA Galaxy, including one as captain.

The cartwheeling Irish striker – his country’s all-time leading marksman by an absolute mile – hung up his boots in 2018 after a short but prolific spell with India’s ATK.

A two-time Premier League champion and three-time FA Cup winner with Arsenal, Freddie Ljungberg had previously played for Halmstad in his native Sweden.

Between 2009 and 2011, the winger represented clubs on three continents, featuring for American outfits the Seattle Sounders and Chicago Fire, and Japan’s Shimizu S-Pulse. He later had the briefest of spells in India, after being coaxed out of retirement by Mumbai City in 2014.

Arguably the greatest African goalkeeper of all time, Thomas N’Kono began his career in his homeland of Cameroon, before spending almost a decade in Spain at Espanyol.

Following stints with two more Catalan sides, Sabadell and Hopsitalet, N’Kono headed to South America to join Bolivar – and helped them to back-to-back Bolivian titles in 1996 and 1997, his ginal season as a player.

Bleach-afroed Colombian great Carlos Valderrama was among the most instantly recognisable footballers of the 90s, representing his nation at three World Cups.

‘El Pibe’ made most of his club appearances in Colombia, but he also had spells in Spain, France and the USA – where he dazzled as one of MLS’ earliest stars, winning the competition’s inaugural title and MVP award with the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

Golden Ball winner as player of the tournament at the 2010 World Cup, Diego Forlan undoubtedly goes down as one of Uruguay’s finest.

The blond-locked striker started out with Argentine giants Independiente, then spent a decade in Europe – where he played for Manchester United, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Inter – before entering something of a journeyman era which took him to Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, India and Hong Kong.

Teofilo Cubillas cemented his status as Peru’s best-ever player with some sublime World Cup performances during the 70s – a decade which he began with local club Alianza Lima and ended with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the USA.

Between the two, the legendary attacking midfielder spent time in Europe at Basel and – most memorably – Porto, for whom he scored 65 goals in 108 games.

An integral member of the Netherlands side which reached the 1974 World Cup final – and a runner-up again four years later – Wim Suurbier is remembered as one of the finest full-backs of all time.

A serial winner at Ajax – where he collected three European Cup winner’s medals in as many years between 1971 and 1973 – Suurbier later turned out for the North American Soccer League’s (NASL) Los Angeles Aztecs and San Jose Earthquakes, as well as Tung Sing of Hong Kong.

He scored 34 goals in 71 caps for France – including the golden goal to clinch Euro 2000 glory – but David Trezeguet grew up in his father’s native Argentina, beginning his career Buenos Aires-based Platense.

After spending his prime years in Europe – most notably at Juventus – the prolific marksman added continent number three to his CV: Asia, featuring for Baniyas of the UAE and India’s Pune City.

A Premier League champion on both sides of the Manchester divide, tenacious Argentine forward Carlos Tevez also had three spells with one of the biggest clubs in South America: Boca Juniors.

In between his second and third stints at Boca, Tevez turned out for Shanghai Shenhua of the Chinese Super League – a period which he openly described as a “holiday” and during which he was criticised by manager Wu Jingui for being overweight….

Chelsea icon Didier Drogba sits among the Blues’ record goalscorers and lifted all of the European game’s biggest honours at Stamford Bridge.

The two-time African Footballer of the Year – who earned 105 caps for the Ivory Coast – wound down his career with stints in, among other countries, China and Canada – where he played for Shanghai Shenhua and the Montreal Impact respectively.

Bulgaria’s greatest-ever player, Hristo Stoichkov scored for fun in the colours of CSKA Sofia – including 48 goals in 39 games during the 1989/90 campaign – and Barcelona, lifting the 1991/92 European Cup with the latter.

Following second spells with Barca and CSKA, the 1994 Ballon d’Or winner left Europe for Asia – picking up silverware in Saudi Arabia and Japan with Al Nassr and Kashiwa Reysol respectively – before seeing out his career in the USA, where he helped Chicago Fire to US Open Cup success.

An all-time great of the Italian game, Alessandro Del Piero took his tally of continents from one to three in the final years of his career.

After ending his near two-decade association with Juventus, the 2006 World Cup winner banged in 24 goals in 48 outings for Australia’s Sydney FC – before signing off in 2014 with Delhi Dynamos, taking part in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League.

England’s 1966 World Cup-winning skipper and one of the finest defenders ever to grace the pitch, Bobby Moore is best-known for his long and successful spell with local club West Ham – who he captained to FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup Victory in the years leading up to ’66.

Later on – in addition to making more than 100 appearances for Fulham and a handful for Denmark’s Herning Fremad – Moore played for a string of American sides, as well as Eastern Sports Club of Hong Kong.

Born in the southeast African nation of Mozambique while it was under Portuguese control, Eusebio burst onto the scene with hometown outfit Sporting Lourenco Marques (today known as Maxaquene).

Having ensured legendary status by amassing the best part of 500 goals for Benfica and helping them to European Cup glory – as well as inspiring Portugal to the 1966 World Cup semi-finals – the great man headed to North America, where he starred for clubs in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

With almost 800 career goals to his name, Romario is one of the game’s ultimate scorers – and the 1994 World Cup-winning Brazilian poacher played on five continents and found the net on four of them: South America, Europe, North America and Oceania.

Having struck over 100 times for both Vasco da Gama in his homeland and Dutch giants PSV, ‘Baixinho’ made three goalless appearances for Al-Sadd of Qatar – but found his shooting boots again in Australia (ok, he only scored once in four games for Adelaide United, but still).

Perhaps the finest footballer ever to come out of Britain, the iconic George Best scooped the 1968 Ballon d’Or while he was at the peak of his powers with Manchester United.

The swashbuckling Northern Irish winger featured for a whole string of other clubs after leaving Old Trafford in 1974, though, including South Africa’s Jewish Guild – where he came under criticism for missing training sessions – Sea Bee and Rangers of Hong Kong – Australian outfit Brisbane Lions, and several NASL sides.