Charles Taylor reveals truth behind his football name

Prolific Ghanaian winger, Bismarck Asampong better known as Charles Taylor has revealed the secret and inspiration behind his football name.

The former Kotoko striker was named after his grandfather, Bismarck Asampong who was affectionately called ‘Kweku Tailor’ due to his profession as a fashion designer. As a descendant of his grandfather, people deemed it fit to also call him by the same nickname ‘Kweku Tailor’.

However, when the winger wanted to become a professional footballer with Accra Great Olympics, he had difficulties choosing a preferred name for himself. After initially settling for ‘Kweku Taylor’ as his football name, an Olympics fan convinced him to settle for ‘Charles Taylor’.

He said, “My grandfather who I was named after was a tailor and was named Kweku Asante, due to his profession, he was called Kweku Taylor..”

“So, when Olympics wanted to register me as a player, I wanted to use Kweku Taylor, but an Olympics supporter who was standing close advised me to use Charles Taylor,” the former Ghana Premier League top scorer added.

The retried player further disclosed in the interview on the ‘Life After The Game’ show how he downplayed the name due to the scandals associated with the former Liberian President but later chose it as his official football name.

“On a second thought I realized it was linked with the former Liberian President but my real name is Asampong Bismarck,” the former Black Stars B player concluded.

Changing names is very synonymous to football with many notable players including Pele, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pepe using different names instead of their real names.

Taylor had a successful career with both Hearts and Kotoko winning many domestic titles, including continental titles with the Phobians.