Kuffour Wins European Club Championship

..as Bayern win Champions League final on penalties

Samuel Kuffour became the second Ghanaian, after Abedi Pele, to win the European Club Championship Cup as Bayern Munich won the championship for the first time since 1976 when they beat Valencia 5-4 on penalties after a final that finished 1-1 after extra time on Wednesday.

The Ghanaian international may not have featured in the dramatic climax — but what a night it was for the defender. He almost got the golden goal in extra time.

Kuffour, who became only the fifth African player to pick up a European Cup winners medal, said after the match: "Nothing happens without God and with God we won today."

Football fans in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city, are celebrating victory for their own "son" Samuel Osei Kuffour, in the European Champions' League. Kuffour hails from Kumasi, where there was extensive celebrations, especially at Ash Town, a large suburb of the city where the Bayern Munich defender was born.

Car horns, street dancing and singing have transformed the town into a carnival as Kuffour's Bayern came from a goal down to defeat Valencia in sudden-death penalty shoot-out after extra-time.

Ghana's national television could not show the match live, but most fans cramped into homes, bars and video parlours where satellite pictures were available, to follow the match and give their support to Bayern for the sake of Kuffour.

The Match

In the match itself, Dutch referee Dick Jol awarded three penalties in the first 50 minutes of a physical, scrappy game.

It was Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn who emerged the German hero of the evening as he saved three of Valencia's seven attempts in the shoot-out, the last from Mauricio Pellegrino. Valencia have now lost two Champions League finals in succession.

Captain Gaizka Mendieta put Valencia ahead from the spot after Bayern's Swedish international defender Patrick Andersson was deemed to have handled in his own area after just 80 seconds.

Bayern spurned a golden opportunity to level after just six minutes when Dutch referee Dick Jol awarded them a penalty after Valencia defender Jocelyn Angloma sent Bayern skipper Stefan Effenberg sprawling inside the Valencia box. But Mehmet Scholl's penalty kick lacked pace and accuracy, allowing goalkeeper Santiago Canizares to save with his legs and send the ball ballooning over the bar to safety. The start of the second half was as explosive as the beginning of the first.

After just four minutes Giovanni Elber wriggled into the Bayern area and chipped over a cross from the left. Amedeo Carboni, under pressure from substitute Carsten Jancker at his back, clearly handled the ball.

Jol pointed to the penalty spot for the third time in the match and Effenberg sent Canizares the wrong way to make the score 1-1 after 51 minutes.

Bayern Munich: 1-Oliver Kahn; 2-Willy Sagnol, 4-Samuel Kuffour, 5-Patrik Andersson, 25-Thomas Linke, 3-Bixente Lizarazu; 23-Owen Hargreaves, 11-Stefan Effenberg (captain); 20-Hasan Salihamidzic, 7-Mehmet Scholl, 9-Giovane Elber