Stephen Appiah

Stephen Appiah (born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian football player. He played for Ghana national team. Appiah was a talented, tenacious, and physically strong, all-round box-to-box midfielder, who was capable of defending well, as well as orchestrating attacks, creating chances for teammates, and even scoring goals himself, due to his vision, technique, aggressive tackling, athletic attributes, stamina, and his powerful and accurate shot from distance with his right foot. A versatile, powerful, and hard-working player, he was capable of playing anywhere in midfield, and adapting himself to several different formations, but usually operated in the centre of the pitch. Regarded as one of the best African football players of all time.

Club career
He started his football career in Ghana's club "Hearts of Oak" in 1995. Later, he was transferred to Galatasaray's youth team by Fatih Terim. It was sent as a result of the report given by Tamer Güney. In 1997, he transferred to Udinese in Italy. After playing 3 seasons, he moved to Parma in the 2000-2001 season. After 2 seasons, he was loaned to Brescia for 1 year. He played for 1 year and transferred to the Italian club Juventus at the beginning of the season. After playing for Juventus for 2 seasons, Appiah left the team and transferred to Fenerbahçe in the 2005-2006 season for a fee of 8 million Euros. He signed a 5-year contract with an option of 1 year.

He was the captain of the Ghana national team. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he played a leading role in his team's 2nd round.

He was one of the most important players in the squad that Fenerbahçe won the championship in its 100th year. Due to the problem in his veins, he underwent surgery at the end of the 2006-2007 season and was away from the field for a long time. He returned to the field towards the middle of the 2007-2008 season, but was injured again soon after. Appiah, who complained about the indifference of the management during his injury, stated that the club doctors made a wrong diagnosis during the treatment process and therefore he could not recover from the injury. Fenerbahce tried to persuade Appiah to receive treatment in Istanbul, but when Appiah stated that he did not want to return to Turkey, Fenerbahce applied to FIFA. With the application of Fenerbahçe, his license was frozen on 15 January 2008 in order to make room in the foreign quota. FIFA announced its decision in June 2008 and terminated Appiah's contract with Fenerbahce. In January 2009, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Committee ordered Appiah to pay €2.2 million in compensation to Fenerbahce.

Appiah signed for Bologna midway through the 2009–2010 season. After playing for Serie A side Cesena in the 2010-2011 season, Stephen Appiah, whose contract with the Italian club expired, signed a 3-year contract with Serbia's Serbian Super League 2010-11 season 3rd place Vojvodina.

On August 1, 2014, he decided to end his football career.

Interntional career
He has been playing for the national team since 1996. In 2006, he participated in the World Cup for the first time and was included in the squad as Ghana's captain and number 10. In their first two matches, Ghana lost 2-0 to Italy and defeated the Czech Republic by the same score. In order for Ghana to get out of the group, they must get 3 points in their last match in Group E, that is, they must beat the USA. Ghana, which took the lead with Draman's goal in the 22nd minute, could not prevent American Dempsey's goal in the 43rd minute. Ghana, who won a penalty at 45+2, won the match 2-1 with a penalty used by Appiah and came out as the 2nd in the group after Italy, but were eliminated in the Round of 16 by losing 3-0 to Brazil, one of the favorites of the tournament. After being called up for the 2010 World Cup, he also served as a big brother in the team. On Tuesday, August 24, 2010, he announced his retirement from the national team.

Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsUdinese1997–98Serie A11000––1101998–9921063–202931999–00400010–50Total360631020453Parma2000–01Serie A1505161–2622001–021303070–230Total2808113100492Brescia (loan)2002–03Serie A3171000–327Juventus2003–04Serie A3018070104612004–051822030–232Total48310010010693Fenerbahçe2005–06Süper Lig3286162–44112006–0726310103–3762007–08601020–90Total641181185009017Bologna2009–10Serie A200000–20Cesena2010–11Serie A1401000–150Vojvodina2011–12SuperLiga1112000–131Career total234223654263031533

International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsGhana1996101997001998201999102000512001522002202003532004522005722006162200731200831200971201050Total6715

Honours
Hearts of OakStephen Appiah at Soccerway
 Ghana Premier League: 1996–97
 Ghanaian FA Cup: 1996

Parma
 Coppa Italia: 2001–02

Juventus
 Serie A: 2004–05
 Supercoppa Italiana: 2003

Fenerbahçe
 Süper Lig: 2006–07
 Turkish Super Cup: 2007

Ghana U17
 FIFA U-17 World Championship: 1995

Individual
 SWAG Most Promising Football Star of the Year: 1997
 Summer Olympic Football All-Star Team: 2004
 Ghana Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2007
 Footballer of the Year in Turkey: 2007
 African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2006

Notes

 References 

Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:Ghanaian footballers
Category:Sportspeople from Accra