Ultimate Wigan Athletic Website

The Foreign Legion

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Wigan isn't exactly known for being a cosmopolitan place - you need a passport to get to Haydock, and you can live in the town for fifty years and still not necessarily be a "Wigginer". So it may be some surprise to chart the number of players who have appeared for the club in the Football League who were not born in the British Isles (and for this purpose I am excluding the Irish Republic from the definition of "foreign").

Of course, that definition then makes for some interesting facts (well, mildly noteworthy, if not ACTUALLY interesting): Latics' first foreign player was that wily Scot - from India - Colin Methven!! We had Graham Houston from Gibraltar and David Adekola from Nigeria before the Three Amigos turned Wiganers eyes to foreign climes.

There have been those that have made an impact: Jason De Vos, Arjan De Zeeuw, John Filan.... and then there was Pasquale Bruno who played for 45 minutes against Grimsby before he said "sod this", German-born Robin Taylor who made one sub appearance in the League at Cardiff before going off to Loughborough University, and Magical Magyar Gabor Bukran who showed great promise pre-season and appeared in the League against Brentford, but obviously misread the signs when he asked for a big signing on fee - he doesn't know Mr Whelan!!

And then of course came the Premier League.


Jason Roberts scores a penalty for Grenada v USA
CONCACAF Cup June 2004 - Photo copyright Andy Mead YCJ
Although playing for Grenada Jason was born in London so doesn't qualify for this list

I think this list is fairly comprehensive - but if anyone has any amendments please e-mail me.

PlayerBornPlayed
Dariusz AdamczukPoland2001
David AdekolaNigeria1994-1995
Julius AghahowaNigeria2007-2008
Stefan BidstrupDenmark2000-2001
Pasquale BrunoItaly1998
Gabor BukranHungary2001
Henri CamaraSenegal2005-2007 and 2008-2009
Pascal ChimbondaFrance2005-2006
Cho Won-heeSouth Korea2009 to date
Daniel De RidderHolland2008 to date
Jason De VosCanada2001-2004
Arjan De ZeeuwHolland1999-2002 and 2005-2007
Mohamed DiameFrance2009 to date
Isidro DiazSpain1995-1998
Eric EdmanSweden2008 to date
Maynor FigueroaHonduras2008 to date
John FilanAustralia2001-2007
Per FrandsenDenmark2004
Jordi GomezSpain2009 to date
Andreas GranqvistSweden2007-2008
Kristofer HaestadNorway2007
Erik HagenNorway2008
Stephane HenchozSwitzerland2005-2006
Graham HoustonGibraltar1986-1987
Andreas JohanssonSweden2005-2007
Olivier KapoFrance2008-2010
Richard KingsonGhana2009 to date
Denny LandzaatHolland2006-2008
Roberto MartinezSpain1995-2001
Mario MelchiotHolland2007-2010
Colin MethvenIndia1979-1986
Ahmed MidoEgypt2009
Marcelo MorenoBolivia2010 to date
Salomon OlembeCameroon2007-2008
Gino PadulaArgentina2000-2001
Wilson PalaciosHonduras2008 to 2009
Jeff PeronFrance1999-2000
Hugo RodallegaColombia2009 to date
Paul ScharnerAustria2006 to date
Jason ScotlandTrinidad & Tobago2009 to date
Jesus SebaSpain1995-1996
Kevin SharpCanada1995-2002
Antoine SibierskiFrance2007 to 2008
Josip SkokoAustralia2005-2008
Jorg SmeetsHolland1997-1999
Vladimir StojkovicSerbia2010 to date
Robin TaylorGermany1989-1990
Hendry ThomasHonduras2009 to date
Svetoslav TodorovBulgaria2006
Antonio ValenciaEcuador2006-2009
Amr ZakiEgypt2008-2009
Reto ZieglerSwitzerland2006