Sulley Muntari

Sulley Muntari (born 27 August 1984) is a former Ghanaian football player. He played for Internazionale Milano and the Ghanaian national team. A former left-back, Muntari later developed into a powerful, experienced, hard-working, and tenacious midfielder; although he is primarily known for his physical strength and combative playing style, he was also able to make notable improvements to his technical skills throughout his career. He also possesses a good left foot, a powerful shot from outside the area, and is a solid passer of the ball. Widely considered as one of the best Ghana's midfielders in his prime.

Club career
For the 2002/03 season, the then 18-year-old Muntari moved from Liberty Professionals from Ghana to Serie A club Udinese Calcio.

In the summer of 2006, he wanted to move to the Premier League, preferably to Manchester United. In the winter of 2007, several English and Italian clubs, such as AC Milan, showed interest in the Ghanaian midfielder. However, Udinese Calcio rejected an offer of over eleven million euros in the winter. In the summer of 2007, Muntari moved to Portsmouth FC for the equivalent of ten million euros. He signed a contract until 2012. In 2008, he won the FA Cup with Portsmouth.

In the summer of 2008, Muntari returned to Italy to join Inter Milan for 14 million euros. He signed a five-year contract. After Muntari was no longer able to progress beyond the role of a substitute at Inter, he was loaned to AFC Sunderland for six months in January 2011. There he met John Mensah and Asamoah Gyan, with whom he also plays in the Ghanaian national team.

On 31 January 2012, Inter Milan loaned Muntari to AC Milan until the end of the season. He was later given a two-year contract until 30 June 2014.

On 30 June 2015, it was announced that Muntari's contract with AC Milan was terminated by mutual consent. 

He has been under contract with Ittihad FC since July 27, 2015. His contract there is for two years. However, the contract was terminated in July 2016.

Muntari was looking for a club until January 2017, before joining Italian first division club Delfino Pescara 1936. He only made 9 appearances for the second division club.

After another long period without a club, he signed with Deportivo La Coruña on 22 February 2018. In 2019, he was briefly under contract with Albacete Balompié. In 2022, he returned to his homeland and signed a contract with Accra Hearts of Oak.

International career
Muntari made his debut for the Ghanaian national team on May 17, 2002 in a friendly match against Slovenia. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany he scored in the important 2-0 win against the Czech Republic, but was unable to play in the 2-1 win against the USA due to his second yellow card. Nevertheless, he played a huge part in Ghana reaching the round of 16, which they lost to Brazil.

In the opening match of the 2008 African Cup of Nations against Guinea, Muntari scored the decisive 2-1 goal for Ghana in extra time and took his national team to third place. He was not considered for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations for disciplinary reasons.

During a test match before the 2010 World Cup against the Netherlands (1:4), there was a dispute on the field between Muntari and Hans Sarpei, who urged Muntari to play more as a team. At the 2010 World Cup, Muntari only played for thirteen minutes in the first two group matches against Australia. After he became abusive to the coach, he was briefly banned from the squad before the last group match. After Muntari apologized, however, this decision was reversed and he made a brief appearance in the round of 16 victory over the USA. In the quarter-final against Uruguay, he then made his first start and scored the interim 1:0. Nevertheless, Ghana were unfortunately eliminated in the penalty shootout and thus missed the chance to become the first African team to advance to a World Cup semi-final.

On 13 May 2014, he was called up to the squad of the Ghana national football team for the 2014 World Cup. After an argument with an association official, he was suspended indefinitely by the Ghana FA on 26 June 2014 and removed from the squad.

Career statistics
Club
ClubSeasonLeagueNational CupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsUdinese2002–03Serie A12020——1402003–04Serie A2304010—2802004–05Serie A3326020—4122005–06Serie A29300110—4032006–07Serie A28321——304Total1258141140—1539Portsmouth2007–08Premier League29441——335Internazionale2008–09Serie A2743071113852009–10Serie A2725090104222010–11Serie A811030101312011–12Serie A400000—40Total6679019031978Sunderland (loan)2010–11Premier League9100——91Milan (loan)2011–12Serie A1331000—143Milan2012–13Serie A1511021—1822013–14Serie A2650081—3462014–15Serie A16210——172Total701130102—8313Al-Ittihad2015–16Saudi Professional League182305130293Pescara2016–17Serie A9100——91Deportivo La Coruña2017–18La Liga8000——80Albacete2018–19Segunda División2000——20Hearts of Oak2021–22Ghana Premier League111300010151Career total347353624837143841

International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsGhana200222200310200451200562200611320078220081242009622010622011101201281201352201440Total8420

Scores and results list the Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Muntari goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Sulley MuntariSulleyman Ali "Sulley" Muntari - Goals in International Matches - RSSSF Goal  Date  Venue  Opponent  Score  Result  Competition 1  20 June 2004  Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana    1–0  3–0  2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 2  14 November 2005  King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia    2–1  3–1  Friendly 3  8 October 2005  Estádio da Várzea, Praia, Cape Verde    2–0  4–0  2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 4  29 May 2006  Walkers Stadium, Leicester, England    3–0  4–1  Friendly 5  4 June 2006  Easter Road, Edinburgh, Scotland    2–0  3–1  Friendly 6  17 June 2006  RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany    2–0  2–0  2006 FIFA World Cup 7  7 February 2007  Wembley Stadium, London, England    4–0  4–1  Friendly 8  24 March 2007  UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria    1–1  1–1  Friendly 9  20 January 2008  Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra, Ghana    2–1  2–1  2008 Africa Cup of Nations 10  28 January 2008  Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra, Ghana    2–0  2–0  2008 Africa Cup of Nations 11  9 February 2008  Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana    1–0  4–2  2008 Africa Cup of Nations 12  22 June 2008  Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra, Ghana    2–0  2–0  2010 World Cup qualification 13  12 August 2009  Brisbane Road, London, England    3–0  4–1  Friendly 14  6 September 2009  Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra, Ghana    1–0  2–0  2010 World Cup qualification 15  3 March 2010  Koševo Stadium, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina    1–1  1–2  Friendly 16  2 July 2010  Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa    1–0  1–1  2010 FIFA World Cup 17  27 March 2011  Stade de la Revolution, Brazzaville, Congo    3–0  3–0  2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 18  1 June 2012  Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana    1–0  7–0  2014 World Cup qualification 19  7 June 2013  Al-Merrikh Stadium, Omdurman, Sudan    3–1  3–1  2014 World Cup qualification 20  15 October 2013  Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana    5–1  6–1  2014 World Cup qualification

Honours
Portsmouth
 FA Cup: 2007–08

Inter Milan
Serie A: 2008–09, 2009–10
Coppa Italia: 2009–10
Supercoppa Italiana: 2008, 2010
UEFA Champions League: 2009–10
FIFA Club World Cup: 2010

Hearts of Oak
 President's Cup: 2022
 Ghanaian FA Cup: 2022
Ghana U20
 African Youth Championship runner-up: 2001
 FIFA U-20 World Cup runner-up: 2001
Ghana

 Africa Cup of Nations third place: 2008

Individual
CAF Team of the Year: 2008
Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2008
Calcio Trade Ball Lifetime Achievement Award: 2022

 References 

Category:1984 births
Category:Living people
Category:Ghanaian footballers
Category:Ghanaian Muslims
Category:Portsmouth F.C. players
Category:Premier League players
Category:Sunderland A.F.C. players
Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2014 FIFA World Cup players