Sports News of Tuesday, 16 July 2019

Source: ghanacrusader.com

Black Stars’ greatest footballers in history

Asamoah Gyan remains Ghana's all time goal scorer Asamoah Gyan remains Ghana's all time goal scorer

Ghana has been fortunate to have had many great players over the years. While it hasn’t been easy, there are some players who proved critics wrong and went on to achieve great feats.

According to Goal, these are the four players who are part of the greatest Hall of Fame in Black Stars’ history.

Tony ‘Yegoala’ Yeboah

Yeboah is reportedly one of Ghana greatest footballers. He twice made it into the top three categories for the African Footballer of the Year award, and he was voted ninth in the Fifa World Player of the Year award in 1993 respectively.

He went on to be named Leeds United Player of the Year and Ghana Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997.



Abedi Ayew ‘Pele’

Ayew makes the list for his contribution to the Black Stars in the early 1990s. The former Black Stars’ captain won the African Footballer of the Year award on three occasions from 1991 to 1993. He still remains the first and only Ghanaian footballer in history to win the coveted individual accolade thrice.

He was part of the Ghanaian squad which won Africa’s elite competition in 1982, and at the 1992 event, he won the Golden Ball before coming ninth in the Fifa World Player of the Year in the same year.



Osei Kofi

Kofi gets the nod, however, he may not be a known name to most Ghanaians fans due to the fact that he plied his trade in the 1960s and 1970s.

He won the Africa Cup of Nations title with the Blacks Stars in 1965 and was voted the Best Player of the Tournament after managing to finish as the top goalscorer.

He also took part in 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games.



Asamoah ‘Baby Jet’ Gyan

Gyan is a well-known household name in Ghanaian football and internationally. He managed to make the cut for the final Africa Cup of Nations squad. His presence was, however, missing this time around which apparently might be his last feature for national duty.

He is also remembered for the penalty he missed for the Black Stars against Uruguay back in 2010 during the Fifa World Cup which was held in South Africa. Despite that disappointing memory, the majority of fans still recognised his contribution to the national team.

Gyan is Ghana’s all-time goalscorer having tallied 51 goals to his name respectively.



He is also the country’s most capped player with 108 international matches under his belt.

In 2014, Gyan was named BBC African Footballer of the Year after his consistent displays in the United Arab Emirates, where he won three league titles between 2012 and 2015.

He was also the league’s top goalscorer in three successive seasons between 2012 and 2014.