Football royalty: Five brothers who played for the Black Stars

Must have been a surreal moment for the Ayew family seeing two of their sons in the then yellow dominated jerseys of the Black Stars.

Until the monetization of the Black Stars and to an extent the various national teams, pride and patriotism always reigned supreme as far as playing for the national team was concerned.

The feeling of pride and patriotism was not limited to the players and technical team members but the entire nation with the team assuming a position of a nation’s pride and an object of unity.

The emotions will certainly be a notch higher when you have a relative among the few men who have been handpicked by a coach to represent the country in a friendly game, competitive game or a tournament.

Since the inception of the Black Stars only a privilege few have had the honour of seeing their family members don the Ghana jersey but some families have been more than blessed to have two or more of their relatives play for the team that has won four Africa Cup of Nation’s titles.

Beginning with the ‘football royal’ family of the Ayews, GhanaWeb takes a look at five brothers who played for the Black Stars.

Abedi Ayew and Kwame Ayew

The Ayew family is undoubtedly the biggest and most successful football family in the country. From the legendary Abedi to Jordan, that family has contributed significantly to the rich history of Ghana’s football, more specifically the Black Stars.

Abedi and Kwame represented the countries in the 90s and participated in two AFCON tournaments.

Kwame Ayew played 25 times for Ghana and scored nine goals for the Black Stars.

Abedi Pele is arguably the best player in Ghana history with three Africa Player of the Year crowns and an AFCON title.

Abedi earned 73 caps and scored 33 goals for Ghana.

Andre Ayew, Rahim Ayew and Jordan Ayew

Currently the two main forwards for the Black Stars, Andre and Jordan owe their talents to their father Abedi Pele who Jordan describes as an ‘idol.

The two began their careers at Marseille before moving to the EPL where they reunited at Swansea. Andre is still with Swansea while Jordan is having a stellar season at Crystal Palace.

Andre, the elder of the duo is currently the skipper for the Black Stars and has 15 goals in 85 appearances for Ghana.

Jordan has the same number of goals in 29 matches less.

Rahim Ayew is the oldest son of Abedi, albeit a different mother from that of Andre and Jordan. Rahim has also been in and out of the Black Stars in the past even though he hardly gets a look in these days. Rahim Ayew was even part of Ghana’s squad during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Ben Kayode and Dan Kayode

The Kayode brothers were part of the successful Black Stars team that dominated the continent in the late 70s and early 80s.

The two at some point led the Black Stars attack with Ben playing slightly deeper than Dan.

Dan was part of the Ghana team that won the 1978 AFCON and also played in the tournament two years later.

Ben Kayode was an AFCON winner in 1982 and also participated in the 1984 competition.

Asamoah Gyan and Baffour Gyan

Baffour Gyan who is six years older than played for Ghana from 2001 to 2008. In 24 appearances, he managed just four goals as a striker.

He and Gyan were paired a few times in Black Stars games, particularly the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

Asamoah Gyan, 33 is Ghana’s greatest goalscorer with over 50 goals. Until June 2019, he was the skipper of the Black Stars.

Richard Kingson and Laryea Kingston

Same father, same mother but different spelling of name. The Kingson/Kingston brothers are also one of Ghana’s most successful football families.

Olele whose association with the Black Stars came in the late 90s was capped 90 times by Ghana.

His junior brother, Laryea Kingston scored six times in 41 appearances for Ghana.