Stephen Appiah

Stephen Appiah
Stephen Appiah in 2006
Personal information
Full name Stephen Appiah
Date of birth (1980-12-24) 24 December 1980
Place of birth Accra, Ghana
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 Hearts of Oak 28 (25)
1997–2000 Udinese 45 (3)
2000–2003 Parma 49 (2)
2002–2003 → Brescia (loan) 31 (7)
2003–2005 Juventus 69 (3)
2005–2008 Fenerbahçe 86 (17)
2009–2010 Bologna 2 (0)
2010–2011 Cesena 15 (0)
2012 Vojvodina 13 (1)
Total 338 (58)
International career
1995 Ghana U17
1995–1996 Ghana U20
1996–2010 Ghana 67 (15)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen Appiah (born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian football player. He played for Ghana national team. Appiah was a talented, tenacious, and physically strong, all-round box-to-box midfielder, who was capable of defending well, as well as orchestrating attacks, creating chances for teammates, and even scoring goals himself, due to his vision, technique, aggressive tackling, athletic attributes, stamina, and his powerful and accurate shot from distance with his right foot. A versatile, powerful, and hard-working player, he was capable of playing anywhere in midfield, and adapting himself to several different formations, but usually operated in the centre of the pitch. Regarded as one of the best African football players of all time.

Club career

He started his football career in Ghana's club "Hearts of Oak" in 1995. Later, he was transferred to Galatasaray's youth team by Fatih Terim. It was sent as a result of the report given by Tamer Güney. In 1997, he transferred to Udinese in Italy. After playing 3 seasons, he moved to Parma in the 2000-2001 season. After 2 seasons, he was loaned to Brescia for 1 year. He played for 1 year and transferred to the Italian club Juventus at the beginning of the season. After playing for Juventus for 2 seasons, Appiah left the team and transferred to Fenerbahçe in the 2005-2006 season for a fee of 8 million Euros. He signed a 5-year contract with an option of 1 year.

He was the captain of the Ghana national team. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he played a leading role in his team's 2nd round.

He was one of the most important players in the squad that Fenerbahçe won the championship in its 100th year. Due to the problem in his veins, he underwent surgery at the end of the 2006-2007 season and was away from the field for a long time. He returned to the field towards the middle of the 2007-2008 season, but was injured again soon after. Appiah, who complained about the indifference of the management during his injury, stated that the club doctors made a wrong diagnosis during the treatment process and therefore he could not recover from the injury. Fenerbahce tried to persuade Appiah to receive treatment in Istanbul, but when Appiah stated that he did not want to return to Turkey, Fenerbahce applied to FIFA. With the application of Fenerbahçe, his license was frozen on 15 January 2008 in order to make room in the foreign quota. FIFA announced its decision in June 2008 and terminated Appiah's contract with Fenerbahce. In January 2009, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Committee ordered Appiah to pay €2.2 million in compensation to Fenerbahce.

Appiah signed for Bologna midway through the 2009–2010 season. After playing for Serie A side Cesena in the 2010-2011 season, Stephen Appiah, whose contract with the Italian club expired, signed a 3-year contract with Serbia's Serbian Super League 2010-11 season 3rd place Vojvodina.

On August 1, 2014, he decided to end his football career.

Interntional career

He has been playing for the national team since 1996. In 2006, he participated in the World Cup for the first time and was included in the squad as Ghana's captain and number 10. In their first two matches, Ghana lost 2-0 to Italy and defeated the Czech Republic by the same score. In order for Ghana to get out of the group, they must get 3 points in their last match in Group E, that is, they must beat the USA. Ghana, which took the lead with Draman's goal in the 22nd minute, could not prevent American Dempsey's goal in the 43rd minute. Ghana, who won a penalty at 45+2, won the match 2-1 with a penalty used by Appiah and came out as the 2nd in the group after Italy, but were eliminated in the Round of 16 by losing 3-0 to Brazil, one of the favorites of the tournament. After being called up for the 2010 World Cup, he also served as a big brother in the team. On Tuesday, August 24, 2010, he announced his retirement from the national team.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[1]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Udinese 1997–98 Serie A 11 0 0 0 – – 11 0
1998–99 21 0 6 3 – 2[a] 0 29 3
1999–00 4 0 0 0 1 0 – 5 0
Total 36 0 6 3 1 0 2 0 45 3
Parma 2000–01 Serie A 15 0 5 1 6 1 – 26 2
2001–02 13 0 3 0 7 0 – 23 0
Total 28 0 8 1 13 1 0 0 49 2
Brescia (loan) 2002–03 Serie A 31 7 1 0 0 0 – 32 7
Juventus 2003–04 Serie A 30 1 8 0 7 0 1[b] 0 46 1
2004–05 18 2 2 0 3 0 – 23 2
Total 48 3 10 0 10 0 1 0 69 3
Fenerbahçe 2005–06 Süper Lig 32 8 6 1 6 2 – 44 11
2006–07 26 3 1 0 10 3 – 37 6
2007–08 6 0 1 0 2 0 – 9 0
Total 64 11 8 1 18 5 0 0 90 17
Bologna 2009–10 Serie A 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 0
Cesena 2010–11 Serie A 14 0 1 0 0 0 – 15 0
Vojvodina 2011–12 SuperLiga 11 1 2 0 0 0 – 13 1
Career total 234 22 36 5 42 6 3 0 315 33
  1. ↑ Two appearances in season UEFA Cup qualification
  2. ↑ One appearance in 2003 Supercoppa Italiana.

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[1]
National team Year Apps Goals
Ghana 1995 1 0
1996 0 0
1997 0 0
1998 2 0
1999 1 0
2000 5 1
2001 5 2
2002 2 0
2003 5 3
2004 5 2
2005 7 2
2006 16 2
2007 3 1
2008 3 1
2009 7 1
2010 5 0
Total 67 15

Honours

Hearts of Oak[2]

  • Ghana Premier League: 1996–97
  • Ghanaian FA Cup: 1996

Parma[2]

Juventus[2]

Fenerbahçe[2]

Ghana U17[2]

  • FIFA U-17 World Championship: 1995

Individual

  • SWAG Most Promising Football Star of the Year: 1997[3][4]
  • Summer Olympic Football All-Star Team: 2004[5]
  • Ghana Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2007
  • Footballer of the Year in Turkey: 2007
  • African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2006[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2004–05 title, was revoked following the Calciopoli scandal.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Appiah, Stephen". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Stephen Appiah at Soccerway
  3. ↑ Provencal, E. N. O. (4 January 1997). The Mirror: Issue 2,197 January 4, 1997. Graphic Communications Group.
  4. ↑ Provencal, E. N. O. (22 February 1997). The Mirror: Issue 2,304 February 22, 1997. Graphic Communications Group.
  5. ↑ "Olympic Football All-Star Team". FIFA. Archived from the original on 27 August 2004. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. ↑ "All-Star Team of the Tournament". CAF. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
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