PremierLeague.com - Tue 23 Sep 2014
Wanyama becomes first Kenyan goalscorer in the BPL
Kenya is the 91st different nation to have a goalscorer in Barclays Premier League history
By scoring the winning goal against Swansea City on Saturday Victor Wanyama not only registered his first goal in Southampton colours but became the first Kenyan to score in the Barclays Premier League.
The strike by the 23-year-old former Celtic midfielder means that players from 91 different nations have scored in the English top flight since its inaugural season in 1992/93. The last goalscorer before Wanyama to put his country's flag on the BPL map for the first time was Fernando Amorebieta, of Venezuela, who was on target for Fulham in April. The defender's goal followed that of Kei Kamara, of Norwich City, in February 2013, who flew the flag for Sierra Leone.
Two years earlier Stefan Savic had become the first Montenegrin to score in the BPL, in October 2011, six months after his Manchester City team-mate Edin Dzeko had similarly broken new ground for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is no surprise that England is the country to have produced the most goalscorers in the Barclays Premier League, with 747 players amassing 9,754 goals. Scotland are second on that list with 106 scorers, two ahead of France, although the French have outscored the Scots by 1,291 to 888.
The Republic of Ireland lie fourth on the list with 92 scorers while the Netherlands have produced the fifth-most marksmen with 67 – four more than Wales. Spain come next with 50 scorers, and Italy, Brazil, Northern Ireland and Norway complete the top 10. The five nations who have scored only one goal in the BPL are Kenya, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Poland and St Kitts and Nevis.
There are 15 further nations to have been represented in the English top flight whose players have yet to find the net, including Albania, Bolivia, Cape Verde Islands and the Faroe Islands but until January at least, only one further nation can join the list: Zambia, whose striker Emmanuel Mayuka, is on the books of Southampton.
There have been two Barclays Premier League matches in which players from seven different nations have scored. Arsenal's 6-2 defeat of Blackburn Rovers in October 2009 produced goals from Belgium's Thomas Vermaelen, Denmark's Nicklas Bendtner, Englishmen David Dunn and Theo Walcott, France's Steven N'Zonzi, Dutchman Robin van Persie, Russia's Andrey Arshavin and Spain's Cesc Fabregas.
In March 2002 Newcastle United boasted goals by England's Alan Shearer, France's Olivier Bernard, Guyana's Carl Cort, Peru's Nolberto Solano, and Republic of Ireland's Andy O’Brien in their 6-2 win over Everton. The Toffees responded through Duncan Ferguson and Niclas Alexandersson of Scotland and Sweden respectively.
Excluding English players, who have scored as many as eight, the record number of goals scored by players from the same country in a single BPL match is five, which has happened on six occasions. Argentina (Norwich City 1-6 Manchester City, 14 April 2012); Brazil (Middlesbrough 8-1 Man City; 11 May 2008), France (Arsenal 5-0 Leeds United, 16 April 2004); Australia (Charlton Athletic 1-6 Leeds United, 5 April 2003) and the Netherlands (Arsenal 5-1 Middlesbrough, 20 November 1999) all claimed five goals. Bulgaria also produced five in a single match (Manchester United 7-1 Blackburn Rovers, 27 November, 2010) with striker Dimitar Berbatov claiming five for himself.