Legendary Ghanaian footballer Samuel Osei Kuffour has revealed the hardships he faced during his childhood, recalling how he shared a single room with 28 people, including his grandmother.

According to him, the small room was overcrowded with relatives and others, as his family could not afford a more spacious place to live.

The former Bayern Munich defender noted that the situation often led to fights among the occupants over stolen items and petty issues.

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“Immediately I got my money, I bought a house. And notice that I was the first person in my family to do so. I bought a house because I know where I’m coming from. We were living in an uncompleted house, and where my grandmother used to live, a small room, we were almost 27 to 28 people living there.

"Every day there was a fight. Someone had stolen my soap, someone had taken my toothpaste, someone had bathed with my sponge, someone had taken my towel. Every day there was a fight,” he said in an interview with SuperSport.

Kuffour explained that the conditions eventually forced his mother to move them into an uncompleted building, while he remained focused on his goals, which later paid off.

“It made me end up sleeping outside my room early. At the age of seven or eight, I was sleeping outside because the women were inside, and my mother was there too. She had to force herself to get that uncompleted building for us to live in, me, my sisters. It was a terrible beginning, but nothing happens by accident. There was a reason and purpose for me going through those things,” he said.

The former Black Stars player admonished young footballers not to be discouraged by hardship but to keep striving toward their goals.

“So the young ones listening to me need to bear in mind: you cannot get everything on a silver platter. You need to struggle before you get it. When you get it, you take good care of it. For me, it was a process. When I got money, I bought a house. I never lived in that house, I gave it to my grandmother and my mother because they needed it more than me,” he added.

Watch the video below

❝Immediately I got my money, I bought a house. I was the first person in my family to do so.❞

- Former Bayern Munich and Ghana defender, Samuel Kuffour pic.twitter.com/cP8rh2wnlg

— @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) August 12, 2026