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Soccer News of Tuesday, 1 May 2007

Source: REXFORD NII AYI TETTEH

Welcome Party For Goalkeeper Kingston

Since joining his new club, Hammarby IF in the Swedish Premier Division football, Ghana’s senior national team, Black Stars, safest pair of hands, Richard ‘Oleley’ Kingson, will on Friday attend an official welcome party which is being organized by officials and fans of his new club in his honour. The party, which according to reports is often organized by most Swedish officials whenever a big playing star joins the country’s elite division of soccer, will see most Turkish nationals based in Sweden taking a centre stage to catch a glimpse of their idol due to former Accra Great Olympics goalie’s decade of playing career in Turkey.

The goalie, who was reported in most soccer journal as joining the Barclays Premiership due to his chase by two Premiership clubs, was signed by the Swedish club in a three-month undisclosed deal soon after Ghana’s Black Stars international friendly game with the Samba Boys OF Brazil, which the Stars lost by a lone goal. For now, the goalie is hooked with Swedish side till the end of June 2007 when his deal will end.

But investigations have revealed that officials of the Swedish club will try to persuading the goalie to extend his deal with the signing of a new two-year contract as they fear the club may lose the experienced goalie in the summer as five clubs including Russia’s Lokomotiv Moscow, Olympic Marseille and two Premiership clubs have been linked to him.

Kingson, who was signed at a teenage age by Turkish giants Galatasaray in 1996 after participating in the 1996 Olympics Games held in Atlanta, U.S.A, featured for six clubs including Sakaraspor, Antaliaspor and Ankaraspor in the Turkish Premiership during his decade stay in Turkey. He is remembered by most Turkish soccer fans during his reign as the number one material for giants Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League some six years back.

Having had a fantastic World Cup outing with Ghana’s Black Stars team at the 2006 Championship in Germany, where he exhibited high level performance of goalkeeping in all four matches played by the Stars which later earned him been named by FIFA as the third World Best goalie after Italy’s Buffon and Ricardo of Portugal in the competition, the always clean shaved goalie was denied a move by his Ankaraspor club officials after receiving offers from most European teams including to from the Barclays Premiership.

However like he did at the World Cup, the goalie, who happens to be the big brother of Scottish Premiership side Hearts midfielder, Laryea Kingson, has so far kept an excellent performance for his new Swedish side as they currently occupy the top spot of the fourteen club league with seven points after four rounds of matches played.