HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEPHEN APPIAH, FORMER SKIPPER OF THE GHANA BLACKSTARS FOOTBALL TEAM

It’s the birthday of former blackstars captain, Stephen Tonado Appiah. Appiah has had a successful football career both locally and internationally. He captained the blackstars to Ghana’s first time ever worldcup appearance in 2006. Appiah gave his best to his country and club, hence, he is widely celebrated by Ghanaians, football fans especially. Www.ghanacelebrations.com celebrate with Appiah and wish him many more years of celebrations.

Stephen Leroy Appiah, born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He captained Ghana at their World Cup debut in 2006 and at the 2010 World Cup.

Club career

Appiah began his career at local club Hearts of Oak in 1995, at 15 years of age. In 1996, he had trials with Galatasaray’s youth squad but was not signed and he returned to Hearts of Oak.

In 1997, he moved abroad to join Italian Serie A side Udinese, where he initially played as a striker. He spent three seasons with the club, later changing positions during his time there, moving to a deeper midfield position. A transfer to Parma in 1999 was jeopardised by viral hepatitis, but Appiah overcame the illness to move there in the summer of 2000. After two seasons at Parma, Appiah went on loan to Brescia for the 2002–03 season. Appiah became a first-team regular for the Lombardians, and scored seven times in 31 games.

Juventus

Appiah’s success at Parma alerted defending Serie A champions Juventus to his talents. Juventus paid Parma €2 million in the summer of 2003 to secure Appiah’s services on loan, with an option to a permanent €6 million transfer in 2004. In 2003, Appiah finished 8th for African Footballer of the Year.

He went on to enjoy a good first season for Juventus, playing in 30 Serie A games and appearing in the Coppa Italia final. He also made his debut in the UEFA Champions League. In his second season at Juventus, Appiah played in 18 Serie A games.

Serie A return

Appiah was on trial with the London-based club Tottenham Hotspur in January 2009 with a view to a 6-month permanent contract,[10] however, concerns over his knee and fitness resulted in no contract being offered, as Spurs took up the option of signing Wilson Palacios from Wigan instead. The following month Appiah underwent a trial at Rubin Kazan,[citation needed] but the Russian champions decided against signing the player because of the same fitness concerns. Despite being without a club since his departure from Fenerbahçe in June 2008, Appiah remained a regular with the national team throughout the 2008–09 season.

On 1 November 2009, Bologna announced the signing of Appiah on a free transfer.

On 7 August 2010, Appiah signed for newly-promoted Italian Serie A side Cesena on a one-year deal with the option of signing on for another year if the club managed to remain in the top flight. At the end of the 2010–11 season his contract with Cesena expired, and he became a free agent.

Vojvodina

On 2 February 2012, after passing medical exams, Appiah signed a six-month deal with Serbian side Vojvodina. Along with Almami Moreira and Aleksandar Katai, he was the main winter-break signing of Vojvodina in order to challenge Belgrade clubs dominance and guarantee a European competition place. He made his Serbian SuperLiga debut as a starter in a 16-round match played on 4 March 2012 against Radnički Kragujevac.

Until the end of the 2011–12 Serbian SuperLiga season, he gathered 11 league appearances and has scored his only goal in the deciding last-round home 2–1 victory against Red Star Belgrade,[15] which put Vojvodina on a final third place in the league and guaranteed a spot in next season’s UEFA Europa League.

International career

Appiah at the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Appiah was part of the Ghana squad which won the FIFA U-17 World Championship tournament in 1995 at age 14. The team beat Brazil in the final to lift the trophy.

Black Stars

Appiah made his Black Stars debut on his 16th birthday He made his debut when Ghana played Benin in a four nations tournament in Cotonou. Appiah replaced then skipper Abedi Pele in the 80th minute after Ghana had taken a commanding 2-0 lead.

He first took over the armband when Ghana faced Slovenia national team in a friendly fixture and would go on to lead the team to secure a historic first-time qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Stephen Appiah Captain Ghana to its first World Cup in 2006 and 2010 edition.

Appiah also led Ghana to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. By the end of his of his international career, he had 67 caps and scored 14 international goals.

Other endeavours

Appiah has designed a clothing line named StepApp that was released in late November 2007 in his hometown of Accra. All proceeds go to the StepApp foundation. The clothing line will initially be released in Africa before arriving in Europe and the United States in the following months. After release the StepApp clothing line has run into trouble.

Black star Team Manager

In May 2017 Stephen Leroy Appiah was named by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as the Team Manager for the Black Star. The former Ghanaian international player was for the first time given the chance to serve as a technical member of the team after retiring from football.

Personal life