Stephen Appiah

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Stephen Appiah
Personal information
Full name	Stephen Appiah
Date of birth	December 24, 1980 (1980-12-24) (age 27)
Place of birth	Accra, Ghana
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth clubs
	Hearts of Oak
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995-1997 1997-2000 2000-2002 2002-2003 2003-2005 2005-present	Hearts of Oak Udinese Parma → Brescia (loan) Juventus Fenerbahçe	0- (-) 36 (0) 29 (0) 31 (7) 48 (3) 64 (11)
National team2
1996-	Ghana	53 (13)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08 February 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 08 February 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen Appiah (born December 24, 1980) is a Ghanaian International football midfielder and the captain of the Ghana national team. As of 2007, he plays professionally for the Turkish club Fenerbahçe SK.

With the Ghana national team, he has played at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the 1997 and 1999 World Youth Championships, the 2004 Olympic tournament, and the 2006 World Cup, where the team reached the second round.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Outside football 4 Honors and awards 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Club career

He earned the nickname Tornado due to the fact that he is very dominant in midfield and is also very strong. A combative player, Stephen Appiah has a strong engine and good tactical awareness. He is an all-round box-to-box midfielder who is able to defend as well as create and score goals. Appiah began his career at local club Hearts of Oak in 1995, at 15 years of age. In 1996 he had trials with Galatasaray SK’s youth squad but was not signed and he returned to Accra Hearts of Oak.^[1]

In 1997, the combative midfielder moved abroad to join Italian club Udinese Calcio in the Serie A championship. He spent three seasons with the club, and it was at the Friuli stadium that he morphed from a striker of promise into a midfield player of substance. Appiah assumed the deeper, more constructive role following his debut against US Lecce in February 1998.

In 2000, a transfer to Parma FC was jeopardised by viral hepatitis, but Appiah overcame the illness to move to Parma in the summer of 2000. The Ghanaian was on the fringe of becoming a regular at the Ennio Tardini stadium, and the club thought it would aid his development to spend the 2002-03 season on loan at Brescia Calcio. A first-team regular for Brescia, Appiah scored seven times in 31 games.

This alerted defending Serie A champions Juventus FC to his talents. Juventus paid Parma €2m, in the 2003 summer, to secure Appiah's services on loan, with an option of a permanent €6m transfer in 2004. "It is a terrific opportunity for me", Appiah said. "You cannot ask for more than to play for a team like Juve." In 2003, Stephen Appiah was nominated and finished 8th for African Footballer of the Year.[1]

He went on to enjoy a solid first season for Juventus at the Delle Alpi stadium, playing 30 Serie A games, appearing in the Coppa Italia final, won by S.S. Lazio over two legs, and making his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Although Appiah lost his place in the team to Manuele Blasi early in his second season, he played 18 Serie A games as Juventus won the domestic title for the 28th time.

In July 2005, he was transferred from Juventus to Fenerbahçe, the defending Turkish champions, for €8 million. He won the Turkish Super League Championship with Fenerbahçe in their centenary year. At the end of the 2006/07 season, Appiah expressed a desire to move on from Fenerbahçe SK although the club wished to extend his current contract.During the January transfer window in 2008 Stephen was linked with a move to Premiership outfit Everton and looks certain to consider this.

After a long knee injury layoff, Appiah came off the bench in the UEFA Champions League match for Fenerbahçe against PSV Eindhoven on 7 November 2007, marking a complete recovery for him. On 8 November 2007, he was linked with a sensational return to Juventus by the Italian media^[2]. Fenerbahçe SK have omitted Appiah from their squad for the second half of the season. This is to both aid his recovery from a blood clot in his knee and also to enable Fenerbahçe SK fill their quota of foreign players with a replacement. This long-term injury will also force Appiah to miss the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. ^[3].

[edit] International career

At junior level, Appiah was a member of the victorious Ghana side that won the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Ecuador, and at the youth level, he was part of the Ghana team that placed 4th during the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and the Ghana team that made the quarter finals at the same level 1999 championship, also playing at the time for Galatasaray's youth squad.

He received his 1st senior cap on his 16th birthday when Ghana played Benin on 24 December 1996. The captain of Ghana's National team, he was the most outstanding player in its 2004 Olympics squad and was voted as one of the 10 All-Stars of that Olympic Football Tournament. He also led the team to their first ever FIFA World Cup qualification, in 2006.

In January 2006, Appiah led the Ghana National Team to the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt where Ghana exited in the 1st round after a surprising loss to Zimbabwe after beating Senegal - a game Appiah played in full with injury. Appiah was selected in the 2006 African Nations Cup All-Star Team of the Tournament by the Confederation of African Football in February 2006^[4].

On 22 June 2006, Appiah was named as Man of the Match in Ghana's World Cup match victory against the USA in which he also scored a penalty in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time. The win saw him captain the Black Stars through to the last 16 phase of the World Cup where they eventually lost to Brazil. Plans for a transfer to the English Premier League from Fenerbahçe fell through after Appiah decided to stay on for their 100th anniversary season.

On 14 November 2006, Appiah made his 50th appearance [2] in the Black Stars shirt, captaining the side to a 1-1 friendly draw with Australia at Loftus Road. Appiah was visibly emotional at the outset of this game, and despite an average performance many Ghanaian fans have praised his reign as captain. [3] Read: Appiah's Phenomenal Rise

[edit] Outside football

Appiah has founded his own charity organisation called StepApp Foundation designed to provide a better quality of living for poverty stricken people across Africa.

On 14 November 2007 it was announced that he had designed a clothing line, also called StepApp, which will be released in late-November,in his hometown of Accra, with all proceeds going to the StepApp foundation. The clothing line will initially be released in Africa before arriving in Europe and the U.S.A. in the following months

[edit] Honors and awards

Club

• 1996 Ghanaian FA Cup Winner with Hearts of Oak
• 1997 Ghana League Winner with Hearts of Oak
• 2002 Coppa Italia Wînner with AC Parma
• 2002 Italian Super Cup Runner-up with AC Parma
• 2004 Coppa Italia Finalist with Juventus
• 2005 Italian Serie A Winner with Juventus (Trophy revoked due to Calciopoli scandal)
• 2006 Turkish Super League Runner-up with Fenerbahçe
• 2006 Turkish Cup Finalist with Fenerbahçe
• 2007 Turkish Super League Winner with Fenerbahçe
• 2007 Turkish Super Cup Winner with Fenerbahçe

International

• 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship Winner
• 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship 4th Place
• 2000 African Cup of Nations Quarter Final
• 2006 Fifa World Cup 2nd Round

Individual

• Nominated for African Footballer of the Year in 2003 8th Place
• 2004 Summer Olympic Football All-Star Team
• 2005 Best Goal of the UEFA Champions League Group-Stage
• Ghana Footballer of the Year - Winner 2005
• Ghana Footballer of the Year - Nominated 2006
• Ghana Footballer of the Year - Winner 2007
• Captain of Ghana's National team
• 2006 African Cup of Nations All-Star Team of the Tournament
• Budweiser Man of the match: 2006 Fifa World Cup Ghana vs. USA

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Profile at transfermarkt.de
• Profile at fenerbahce.org
• Profile at TFF.org
• Appiah Fenerbahce Stats Page
• Stephen Appiah profile and career notes
• Fifa 2006 World Cup Profile
• UEFA Champions League Profile
• Football Database provides Stephen Appiah's profile and stats
• Ghana Football Association - official website
• Ghanaweb Football Forum - Ghana Football Fan Forum
• Appiah's compilation video

v • d • e Ghana squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Adjei • 2 Sarpei • 3 Gyan • 4 Kuffour • 5 Mensah • 6 Pappoe • 7 Shilla • 8 Essien • 9 Boateng • 10 Appiah • 11 Muntari • 12 Tachie‑Mensah • 13 Mohamed • 14 Amoah • 15 Paintsil • 16 Owu • 17 Quaye • 18 E. Addo • 19 Pimpong • 20 O. Addo • 21 Issah • 22 Kingson • 23 Dramani • Coach: Dujković

v • d • e Fenerbahçe S.K. – current squad 1 Volkan D. • 2 Lugano • 3 Roberto Carlos • 4 Appiah • 5 Yasin • 6 Wederson • 7 Kemal • 8 Kâzım Kâzım • 9 Kežman • 15 M. Aurélio • 17 C. Arat • 18 A. Bilgin • 19 Önder • 20 Alex • 21 Selçuk • 22 Serdar • 23 Semih • 24 Deniz • 25 U. Boral • 32 Gürhan • 33 Maldonado • 36 Edu Dracena • 38 I. Parlak • 77 Gökhan • 88 Volkan B. • 89 Mert • 99 Deivid • -- Emre B. • Manager: Zico