By Mark Heys September 8 2007
The introduction of the highly contraversial Bosman ruling in 1995 allowed many players from overseas to ply their trade in the English leagues and Bolton Wanderers took full advatage of this by recruiting players from all over the globe including places as far and wide as Japan and the USA.
Of course pre-1995 the club had been served by a number of foreign players with the first being goalkeeper Wilfred Waller in 1900 after Bolton spotted the South African on tour with a club from his home country.
In the late 1970's recruitment of players from Eastern Europe proved popular and Wanderers added to their ranks by bringing in the likes of Poland winger Tadeusz Nowak and Yugoslav Dusan Nikolic.
Neither move was a success and it wasnt until 1994 that another player from abroad served the club. Bolton manager Bruce Rioch brought in Finnish striker Mixu Paatelainen, Dutch duo Richard Sneekes and Fabian De Freitas and Icelander Gudni Bergsson.
Bergsson proved to be one of the best Bolton defenders of all time making well over 300 appearances for the club over a seven year spell which ended in 2003. Many could argue the native of Reykjavik is the Trotters best ever foreign player.
Danish midfield ace Per Frandsen, Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and Jamaican wing back Ricardo Gardner are just three more to follow on from Bergsson who have served the club with distinction.
Fredi Bobic, a Slovenian-born German international kept Bolton in the Premiership in 2002 when his hat trick against relegation rivals Ipswich Town all but assured survival.
The signings of French World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff and Nigerian playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha put Bolton on the global map and these signings have since been followed up by the recruitment of Spanish champions league winners Ivan Campo and Fernando Hierro, Japanese export Hidetoshi Nakata and Brazilian Mario Jardel, a former Golden Boot winner.
Frenchman Nicolas Anelka is currently Bolton's record signing and sale at £8 million and £15 million respectively, and the 2007 squad contains no fewer than nineteen different nationalities with the latest additions being a Swede and a Norwegian.
THE FULL LIST OF FOREIGN PLAYERS TO REPRESENT BOLTON WANDERERS IS AS FOLLOWS (appearances are league only)
AUSTRALIA
1951-1957 Ken Grieves 49 appearances, 0 goals
2000 Con Boutsianis (Reserve Team)
2005-present Scott Jamieson (Reserve Team)
BRAZIL
2003-2004 Mario Jardel 7 appearances, 0 goals
2003-2004 Emerson Thome 26 appearances, 0 goals
2004-2005 Julio Cesar 5 appearances, 0 goals
DENMARK
1996-1999 & 2000-2004 Per Frandsen 265 appearances, 30 goals
1996-2000 Michael Johansen 137 appearances, 16 goals
1998-2000 Claus Jensen 86 appearances, 8 goals
1999-2002 Bo Hansen 96 appearances, 15 goals
2000-2001 Carsten Fredgaard 5 appearances, 0 goals
2001-2007 Henrik Pedersen 143 appearances, 22 goals
2002-2003 Stig Tofting 14 appearances, 0 goals
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
2003-2004 Ndiwa Lord-Kangana (Reserve Team)
FINLAND
1994-1997 Mixu Paatelainen 69 appearances, 15 goals
1997-present Jussi Jaaskelainen 317 appearances, 0 goals
2001-2002 Jani Viander (Cup Games Only)
FRANCE
1999-2001 Franck Passi 38 appearances, 0 goals
2000-2001 Mikael Kaprielian 1 appearance, 0 goals
2000-2001 John Gope-Fenepej 2 appearances, 0 goals
2001-2002 Djibril Diawara 9 appearances, 0 goals
2001-2006 Bruno N’Gotty 148 appearances, 4 goals
2002-2004 Youri Djorkaeff 75 appearances, 19 goals
2002 Mario Espartero 3 appearances, 0 goals
2002-2003 Bernard Mendy 21 appearances, 0 goals
2003 Pierre-Yves Andre 9 appearances, 0 goals
2003-2005 Florent Laville 15 appearances, 0 goals
2003-2004 Ibrahim Ba 9 appearances, 0 goals
2005 Vincent Candela 10 appearances, 0 goals
2005-2006 Fabrice Fernandes 1 appearance, 0 goals
2005-2006 Martin Djetou 3 appearances, 0 goals
2006-2008 Nicolas Anelka 53 appearances, 21 goals
2007-2008 Gerald Cid 7 appearances, 0 goals
GERMANY
2002 Fredi Bobic 16 appearances, 4 goals
GREECE
2002 Kostas Konstantinidis 3 appearances, 0 goals
2003-present Stelios Giannakopoulos 122 appearances, 18 goals
GUATEMALA
2004 Dwight Pezzarossi (Unused Substitute)
HOLLAND
1994-1996 Richard Sneekes 55 appearances, 7 goals
1994-1996 Fabian De Freitas 40 appearances, 7 goals
HUNGARY
2007-present Adam Bogdan (Unused Substitute)
ICELAND
1995-2003 Gudni Bergsson 270 appearances, 23 goals
1997-1999 Arnar Gunnlaugsson 42 appearances, 13 goals
1998-2000 Eidur Gudjohnsen 55 appearances, 18 goals
1998-2000 Olafur Pall Snorrasson (Reserve Team)
1999 Birkir Kristinsson (Unused Substitute)
2007-present Heidar Helguson
2008-present Gretar Steinsson
IRAN
2006-present Andranik Teimourian 17 appearances, 2 goals
ISRAEL
2004-2007 Tal Ben-Haim 88 appearances, 1 goal
2008-present Tamir Cohen
2006-2007 Idan Tal 16 appearances, 0 goals
ITALY
2000-2002 Emmanuel Morini 2 appearances, 0 goals
IVORY COAST
2006-present Abdoulaye Meite 34 appearances, 0 goals
JAMAICA
1998-present Ricardo Gardner 257 appearances, 15 goals
2001-2003 Jermaine Johnson 12 appearances, 0 goals
2004 Donovan Ricketts (Unused Substitute)
JAPAN
2001-2002 Akinori Nishizawa (Cup Games Only)
2005-2006 Hidetoshi Nakata 21 appearances, 1 goal
MEXICO
2005-2006 Jared Borgetti 19 appearances, 2 goals
NIGERIA
2002-2006 Jay-Jay Okocha 124 appearances, 14 goals
2004-2005 Blessing Kaku 1 appearance, 0 goals
NORWAY
2007-present Daniel Braaten
OMAN
2006-present Ali Al-Habsi (Cup Games Only)
POLAND
1979-1980 Tadeusz Nowak 24 appearances, 1 goal
2005-present Jaroslaw Fojut 1 appearance, 0 goals
2006-2007 Blazej Augustyn (Cup Games Only)
2006-2008 Przemyslaw Kazimierczak (Reserve Team)
2008-present Grzegorz Rasiak
PORTUGAL
2003-present Ricardo Vaz-Te 55 appearances, 3 goals
SENEGAL
2004-present El-Hadji Diouf 79 appearances, 17 goals
2004-2006 Khalilou Fadiga 13 appearances, 1 goal
2005-2007 Abdoulaye Faye 60 appearances, 3 goals
SEYCHELLES
1998-2000 Chris Dawson (Reserve Team Only)
SLOVAKIA
2007-present Zoltan Harsanyi (Reserve Team)
2007-present Lubomir Michalik 4 appearances, 1 goal
SOUTH AFRICA
1900 Wilfred Waller 6 appearances, 0 goals
1997-2000 Mark Fish 103 appearances, 3 goals
2006-2007 Quinton Fortune 6 appearances, 0 goals
SPAIN
2002-present Ivan Campo 145 appearances, 12 goals
2003 Salva Ballesta 6 appearances, 0 goals
2004 Javi Moreno 8 appearances, 0 goals
2004-2005 Fernando Hierro 29 appearances, 1 goal
2005 Oscar Perez (Unused Substitute)
2007 Cesar Martin 1 appearance, 0 goals
2007-present Mikel Alonso
SWEDEN
2007-present Christian Wilhelmsson
SWITZERLAND
1998 Gaetano Giallanza 3 appearances, 0 goals
2007-present Blerim Dzemaili
TUNISIA
2004-2006 Radhi Jaidi 43 appearances, 8 goals
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2001 Juergen Sommer (Cup Games Only)
2002 Jeff Cassar (Unused Substitute)
2006-present Johann Smith 1 appearance, 0 goals
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