Kwesi Appiah
President
Mr. Kwesi Appiah is currently the President of the PFAG. He is in his second stint as head coach of Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars, haven previously managed the team from 2012-2014. He has gained a wealth of coaching experience over the years as both technical head and assistant manager to a number of foreign coaches. Mr. Appiah is best remembered from his playing days as a former stalwart of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club, and ex-captain of the Black Stars during the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Mr. Appiah holds a coaching license certificate from Europe. Prior to his appointment as substantive head coach in 2012, Mr. Appiah managed the Local Black Stars and also coached the Black Meteors to 2011 All Africa Games championship glory. Kwesi Appiah led the Senior National team, the Black STARS to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He has earned further plaudits for his impressive record as head Coach of El Khartoum of Sudan from 2014-2017, and has recently earned himself a reappointment as Manager of the Black Stars.
Stephen Appiah
First Vice President
Mr. Stephen Appiah is the 1st Vice President of the PFAG. Mr. Appiah started his football career with Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club in Ghana. He then moved to Italy, where he has successfully played for Udinese, Parma, Bologna and Juventus in the Sirea A. He left Italy for Turkey, and represented Turkish giants Fenerbahçe S.K. where he won the prestigious Turkey Footballer of the Year award in 2007. “Il Kapitano” has proudly represented Ghana at all levels, and his admirable leadership skills proved instrumental as he captained the Black Stars to their maiden World Cup tournament in Germany in 2006, and again four years later at South Africa 2010.The Former Captain of the Senior National Team, affectionately called “Tornado” retired from the game in January 2015. Today Stephen Appiah is a member of the Black Stars technical team, and devotes a lot of time to the activities of the PFAG and his own foundation, the Stephen Appiah Foundation.
Micheal Essien
Second Vice President
Mr. Michael Essien is the 2nd Vice President of the PFAG. Mr. Essien started his football career with Liberty Professionals in Ghana. He then joined Bastia and moved on to Olympique Lyonnais in France. He hit the limelight as the then most expensive African footballer in history when he joined Chelsea FC in England, and has since featured for European heavyweights Real Madrid and A.C. Milan. Mr. Essien is a 2012 UEFA Champions League winner. His skills and powerful displays led him to being voted the 2005 Player of the Year by France’s National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP). In that same year, he was also nominated for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year Award, a feat he repeated in 2006 and 2007. Mr. Essien was voted as the Best African Footballer of the Year in 2006, a repeat of his 2005 award. He won the 2006 BBC African footballer of the year award. Mr. Essien was also nominated three straight years for the Balon d’Or Award. He was adjudged Ghana Player of the year in 2008. Essien played a key role in securing Ghana’s qualification to the 2006 World Cup in Germany where he excelled as Ghana progressed to the second round. He also represented Ghana during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Michael Essien is currently playing for Persib Bandung in Indonesia.
Abedi Ayew Pele
Board Member
Mr. Abedi Ayew was one of the first African players to make a significant impact on European club football. He played for teams in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and most famously France. Abedi Pele as he is popularly called was very instrumental in Olympique Marseille’s prominence in the European Champions League during the early 1990s.
Amongst his international accolades, he was often included in FIFA “All-star” selections and captained the African all-stars to victory over their European counterparts in the Meridian Cup of 1997. He played for Real Tamale United (Ghana), Lille, Olympique Marseille and Lyon (France), Torino (Italy), 1860 Munich (Germany), and ended his career with Al Ain FC in the Emirates. He was voted the African Footballer of the Year on three occasions. He has played 73 times for Ghana, many of them as an influential skipper. Abedi has transitioned to football management as the owner of Nania FC, an Accra-based club that won the 2011 FA Cup. He has also served on the FIFA Task Force Committee and CAF Football committee. Abedi Pele is also a member of the Public Interest Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
Anthony Yeboah
Board Member
Anthony Yeboah played for Kumasi Cornerstones and Okwahu United at the start of his career in Ghana. His tremendous goal scoring form for Eintracht Frankfurt made him a household name in Germany and beyond. He has also played for FC Saarbrücken, Hamburg SV and Leeds United in England, for whom his numerous thunderous strikes are still revered. He ended his football career with Al Ittihad Doha in Qatar. He has 59 caps for Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars. He was a chairman at Ghanaian club Bechem Chelsea but now owns his football team, Yegoala FC.
Samuel Kuffuor
Board Member
Samuel Kuffour began his football career with King Faisal Babies in Ghana. He played for some of Europe’s top teams including Germany’s Bayern Munich, Netherlands’ Ajax Amsterdam and Italian side AS Roma. Mr. Kuffour’s most memorable years were spent in Bayern Munich where he won a UEFA Champions League trophy in 2001, six German league titles and four German Cups. Mr. Kuffour became the youngest defender of all-time to have scored in the UEFA Champions League in 1994. For a long time, Mr. Kuffour held the record for African player with most appearances in the UEFA Champions League. Mr.
Kuffour played for Torino F.C, Livorno Calcio and FC Nürnberg. He was part of the Ghana squad that won the FIFA World U-17 tournament in 1992. He won bronze with Ghana’s U-23 team, the Black Meteors at the 1992 Olympics. He is a three-time winner of Ghana’s Footballer of the Year award. In 2007, Mr. Kuffour was recognized as one of the top 30 African Players of all time. Kuffour was a nominee for the Ballon d’Or Award in 2001. Having enjoyed an illustrious career, Mr. Kuffour is currently a business man and a football analyst on Africa’s biggest sports channel SuperSports.
Marcel Desailly
Board Member
Marcel Desailly, a retired French footballer of Ghanaian descent, was born on September 7, 1968 in Accra. He began his career in France with FC Nantes, turning professional in 1986. In 1992, he moved to Olympique Marseille and won the European Cup a year later. During his time at AC Milan he won two Italian league titles, in 1994 and 1996.
In 1998, Desailly left Milan and moved to Chelsea FC prior to the 1998 World Cup until the end of the 2003-04 Season. Marcel Desailly was an important part of the French team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, an achievement for which he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur (Knight). Outside football, Desailly is a UNICEF ambassador to Ghana and works for a number of charity organizations like Orphan Aid Africa. He is the owner of Lizzys Sports Complex in Accra, Ghana.
Augustine Ahinful
Board Member
Mr. Augustine Ahinful started his club football in Ghana for Obuasi Goldfields Football Club now Ashanti Gold SC where he won a top scorer award in the league. Mr. Ahinful moved to Europe to continue his football career and at various periods played with Zurich Grasshoppers in Switzerland, Venezia in Italy, Boavista F.C. and União Desportiva de Leiria in Portugal and Borussia Dortmund in Germany. He also played for Trabzonspor and Ankaragucu in Turkey. Mr. Ahinful served his nation well as an active member of several of Ghana’s national teams during the 1990s and early 2000s.
He has been capped 19 times for the senior national team the Black Stars. Mr. Ahinful was also a key member of the teams that represented Ghana at the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championships and the 1996 Olympics. Mr. Ahinful has served on the Under-20 Management Committee of the Ghana Football Association.
Kwame Ayew
Board Member
Mr. Kwame Ayew started his football career with Africa Sports of Ivory Coast. His European career took him to clubs such as FC Metz, União de Leiria, Vitória F.C, Boavista F.C., Sporting Lisbon and Lecce. Europe was not the only frontier he graced with his scoring abilities as he traveled to Saudi Arabia to play for Al Ahli club, to Turkey for Yimpas, Yozgatspor and Kocaelispor and finally China where he played for Inter Shanghai and won the golden boot award. Ayew has made several appearances for Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars and was a member of the U-23 team that won bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Ayew is now a Pastor and is building his own church. He has also served on the Management Committee of the Ghana Football Association.
Richard Kingson
Board Member
Kingson started and ended his football career with Accra Great Olympics in Ghana. He has plied his trade in Europe for clubs such as Galatasaray S.K., Ankaraspor A.S., Elazigspor, Antalyaspor, Göztepe A.S., and Sakaryaspor all in Turkey. He had a spell in Sweden where he played for Hammarby IF. His forays into the English Premier League saw him feature for Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic. Kingson has made 83 plus appearances for Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars, and was Ghana’s goalkeeper during two FIFA World Cup appearances; in Germany in 2006 and in 2010 in South Africa. He was voted an All-Star goalkeeper at the 2008 and 2010 editions of the African Nations Cup respectively. Richard Kingson currently serves as the Goalkeeper’s trainer for the Ghana Black Stars.
The Professional Footballers Association of Ghana