Wakaso Mubarak

**Mubarak Wakaso** (born 25 July 1990) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Ghana national team. Known for his finishing, playmaking skills, and abilities to dribble past opponents especially defenders. He is undoubtedly regarded as one of the best Ghanaian players of all time.

## Club career

Revealed in the youth categories of SC Adelaide, Wakaso turned professional in 2007, at Ashanti Gold, scoring 25 games in 53 matches. In 2008, he went to Spain to defend Elche, but had to wait 2 months to make his debut. After 158 matches and 13 goals, he was released by the Franjiverdes in January 2011 and signed for Villarreal in February of the same year, participating in five games for the B team. In July 2012, he was signed by Espanyol for 4 seasons. However, he stayed only one year in the Catalan team, where he played 26 times and scored 13 goals. In 2013, Wakaso was sold to Rubin Kazan of Russia. With the shirt of the Tatarstan team, the midfielder entered the field 20 times and scored 12 goals. In 2014, he was loaned to Celtic, making 5 appearances. The following season, he returned to Spanish football, this time to defend Las Palmas (also on loan), playing in 20 official games and scoring 10 goals. In 2016, Wakaso signed a three-year contract with Panathinaikos, staying only one season and being loaned out for the third time in his career, this time to Granada, where he made 11 appearances and scored one goal. He also played for Alavés, Jiangsu Suning, Shenzhen FC (who signed him in April 2021 after Jiangsu was dissolved due to financial problems) and Eupen (on loan).

## International career

Wakaso, who represented Ghana's U-17 team at the 2005 World Cup (2 caps), made his debut for the Black Stars first team in October 2012 against Malawi and scored his first goal in November of the same year in a friendly against Cape Verde.

Called up for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Wakaso drew attention for his regularity: he scored goals in the four matches he played and, although he did not return to the field, he was the top scorer in the competition (tied with Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike). He also participated in the 2015 (6 games and one goal), 2017 (5 games and one assist), 2019 (4 games) and 2021 (did not enter the field), in addition to the 2014 World Cup, having played in 2 matches.

### International

|Year|Apps|Goals|
| --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="3"|Ghana||
|2012|2|1|
|2013|13|6|
|2014|10|1|
|2015|14|3|
|2016|6|1|
|2017|6|0|
|2018|1|0|
|2019|8|0|
|2020|1|0|
|2021|6|1|
|2022|3|0|

_Ghana score listed first, score column indicates score after each Wakaso goal._

|No.|Date|Venue|Opponent|Score|Result|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|14 November 2012|Estádio Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal||**1**–0|1–0|Friendly|
|2|13 January 2013|Sheikh Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates||**2**–2|4–2||
|3|24 January 2013|Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa||**1**–0|1–0|2013 Africa Cup of Nations|
|4|2 February 2013|Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa||**1**–0|2–0|2013 Africa Cup of Nations|
|5|**2**–0|2–0|||||
|6|6 February 2013|Mbombela, Nelspruit, South Africa||**1**–0|1–1||
|7|24 March 2013|Baba Yara, Kumasi, Ghana||**2**–0|4–0|2014 FIFA World Cup qualification|
|8|19 November 2014|Tamale Stadium, Tamale, Ghana||**2**–0|3–1|2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|9|5 February 2015|Estadio de Malabo, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea||**2**–0|3–0|2015 Africa Cup of Nations|
|10|5 September 2015|Amahoro, Kigali, Rwanda||**1**–0|3–0|2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|11|17 November 2015|Baba Yara, Kumasi, Ghana||**1**–0|2–0|2018 FIFA World Cup qualification|
|12|11 October 2016|Moses Mabhida, Durban, South Africa||**1**–0|1–1|Friendly|
|13|3 September 2021|Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast, Ghana||**1**–0|1–0|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification|

## Honours

**Celtic**
- Scottish Premiership: 2014–15
- Scottish League Cup: 2014–15

**Jiangsu Suning**
- Chinese Super League: 2020

**Ghana**
- Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2015

**Individual**
- Africa Cup of Nations top scorer: 2013 (4 goals)
- Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2017

## Other websites

- (archived)

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Mubarak Wakaso
- **image**: 20150331 Mali vs Ghana 227.jpg
- **caption**: Wakaso with Ghana in 2015
- **birth place**: Tamale, Ghana
- **height**: 1.71 m
- **position**: Midfielder
- **youthyears1**: 1998–2007
- **youthclubs1**: S.C. Adelaide, Adelaide
- **years1**: 2007–2008
- **clubs1**: Ashanti Gold SC, Ashanti Gold
- **caps1**: 53
- **goals1**: 25
- **years2**: 2008–2011
- **clubs2**: Elche CF, Elche
- **caps2**: 158
- **goals2**: 13
- **years3**: 2011
- **clubs3**: Villarreal CF B, Villarreal B
- **caps3**: 5
- **goals3**: 1
- **years4**: 2011–2012
- **clubs4**: Villarreal CF, Villarreal
- **caps4**: 17
- **goals4**: 10
- **years5**: 2012–2013
- **clubs5**: RCD Espanyol, Espanyol
- **caps5**: 26
- **goals5**: 13
- **years6**: 2013–2016
- **clubs6**: FC Rubin Kazan, Rubin Kazan
- **caps6**: 20
- **goals6**: 12
- **years7**: 2014–2015
- **clubs7**: → Celtic F.C., Celtic (loan)
- **caps7**: 5
- **goals7**: 2
- **years8**: 2015–2016
- **clubs8**: → UD Las Palmas, Las Palmas (loan)
- **caps8**: 20
- **goals8**: 10
- **years9**: 2016–2017
- **clubs9**: Panathinaikos F.C., Panathinaikos
- **caps9**: 8
- **goals9**: 1
- **years10**: 2017
- **clubs10**: → Granada CF, Granada (loan)
- **caps10**: 11
- **goals10**: 1
- **years11**: 2017–2020
- **clubs11**: Deportivo Alavés, Alavés
- **caps11**: 66
- **goals11**: 19
- **years12**: 2020
- **clubs12**: Jiangsu Suning F.C., Jiangsu Suning
- **caps12**: 18
- **goals12**: 11
- **years13**: 2021–2023
- **clubs13**: Shenzhen F.C., Shenzhen
- **caps13**: 18
- **goals13**: 9
- **years14**: 2022–2023
- **clubs14**: → K.A.S. Eupen, Eupen (loan)
- **caps14**: 9
- **goals14**: 3
- **totalcaps**: 436
- **totalgoals**: 130
- **nationalyears1**: 2005
- **nationalteam1**: Ghana national under-17 football team, Ghana U17
- **nationalyears2**: 2012–2022
- **nationalteam2**: Ghana national football team, Ghana
- **nationalcaps2**: 70
- **nationalgoals2**: 13
- **club-update**: 25 August 2023
- **nationalteam-update**: 21:28, 4 September 2022 (UTC)