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Stephen Appiah (born December 24, 1980) is a Ghanaian international football midfielder and captain of the Ghana national team. He currently plays for Bologna in the Italian Serie A.

Club career

Appiah began his career at local club Hearts of Oak in 1995, at 15 years of age. In 1996 he had trials with Galatasaray S.K.’s youth squad but was not signed and he returned to Hearts of Oak.

In 1997, the midfielder moved abroad to join Italian side Udinese. He spent three seasons with the club, and it was at Udinese that he morphed from a striker of promise into a midfield player of substance. In 2000, a transfer to Parma was jeopardised by viral hepatitis, but Appiah overcame the illness to move to Parma in the summer of 2000. The Ghanaian was on the fringe of becoming a regular at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, and the club thought it would aid his development to spend the 2002–03 season on loan at Brescia. A first-team regular for the Lombardians, Appiah scored seven times in 31 games.

This alerted defending Serie A champions Juventus to his talents. Juventus paid Parma the sum of €2m, in the 2003 summer, to secure Appiah's services on loan, with an option of a permanent €6M transfer in 2004.

In 2003, Stephen Appiah was nominated and finished 8th for African Footballer of the Year. He went on to enjoy a solid first season for Juventus at the Stadio delle Alpi, playing 30 Serie A games, appearing in the Coppa Italia final, won by Lazio over two legs, and making his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Although Appiah lost his place in the team to Manuele Blasi early in his second season, he played 18 Serie A games as Juventus won the domestic title for the 28th time.

In July 2005, he was transferred from Juventus to Fenerbahçe S.K., the defending Turkish champions, for €8M. He won the Turkish Super League Championship with Fenerbahçe in their centenary year. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Appiah expressed a desire to move on from Fenerbahçe although the club wished to extend his current contract.

After a long knee injury layoff, Appiah came off the bench in the UEFA Champions League match for Fenerbahçe against PSV Eindhoven on 7 November 2007, marking a complete recovery for him. Successively, Appiah went to Italy for rehabilitation of his injury. The long-term injury also forced the midfielder to miss the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in which Ghana were eliminated at the semi-final stage. He was successively released for free by Fenerbahçe due to his recurrent injury problems.

Appiah was on trial with London based football team Tottenham in January 2009 with a view to a 6-month permanent contract, however concerns over his knee and fitness resulted in no contract being offered, as Spurs took up the option of signing Wilson Palacios from Wigan instead. The following month Appiah underwent a trial at FC Rubin Kazan, but the Russian champions decided against signing the player because of the same fitness concerns. Despite being without a club since his departure from Fenerbahçe in June 2008, Appiah remained a regular with the national team throughout the 2008–09 season.

On November 1, 2009 Bologna announced to have completed the signing of Appiah on a free transfer.^[1]

Other endeavours

Appiah has designed a clothing line, called StepApp, which was released in late November, in his hometown of Accra, with all proceeds going to the StepApp foundation.^[2] The clothing line will initially be released in Africa before arriving in Europe and the U.S.A. in the following months.

International career

With the Ghana national team, he has played at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the 1997 and 1999 World Youth Championships, the 2004 Olympic tournament, and the 2006 World Cup, where the team reached the second round.

Honours and awards

Club

With Hearts of Oak

• 1996 Ghanaian FA Cup
• 1997 Ghana League

With Parma

• 2001–02 Coppa Italia

With Juventus

• 2003 Supercoppa Italiana
• 2004-2005 Serie A
• 2005-2006 Serie A

With Fenerbahçe SK

• 2006–07 Turkish Super League
• 2006–07 Turkish Super Cup

With Ghana national football team

• 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship Winner

Individual

• 2004 Summer Olympic Football All-Star Team
• Ghana Footballer of the Year (2005, 2007)
• Footballer of the Year in Turkey (2007)
• 2006 African Cup of Nations All-Star Team of the Tournament

References

External links

• Stephen Appiah FIFA competition record
• Official Site

Ghana squad – 2000 African Cup of Nations 1 Kingson • 2 Dugbatey • 3 E. Kuffour • 4 S. Kuffour • 5 Baidoo • 6 Gargo • 7 Preko • 8 Edusei • 9 Ayew • 10 Akonnor • 11 Ahinful • 12 Mantey • 13 Nettey • 14 Gyan • 15 Johnson • 16 Appiah • 17 Ofori-Quaye • 18 Kennedy • 19 D. Addo • 20 O. Addo • 21 Nyarko • 22 Adjei • Coach: Dossena

Ghana squad – 2004 Summer Olympics 1 Owu • 2 Lamine • 3 B. Gyan • 4 Osei • 5 Mensah • 6 Pappoe • 7 Yahuza • 8 Taylor • 9 Poku • 10 Appiah • 11 Villars • 12 A. Gyan • 13 Pimpong • 14 Paintsil • 15 Coleman • 16 Tiero • 17 Chibsah • 18 Alhassan • Coach: Barreto

Ghana squad – 2006 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Adjei • 2 Ansah • 3 Agyemang • 4 Kuffour • 5 Mensah • 6 Pappoe • 7 Kingston • 8 Sarpei • 9 Tagoe • 10 Appiah • 11 Dickoh • 12 Attram • 13 Frimpong • 14 Amoah • 15 Paintsil • 16 Owu • 17 Edusei • 18 Yakubu • 19 Mohammed • 20 Adamu • 21 Issah • 22 McCarthy • 23 Dramani • Coach: Dujković

Ghana squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Adjei • 2 Sarpei • 3 Gyan • 4 Kuffour • 5 Mensah • 6 Pappoe • 7 Shilla • 8 Essien • 9 Boateng • 10 Appiah • 11 Muntari • 12 Tachie‑Mensah • 13 Mohamed • 14 Amoah • 15 Paintsil • 16 Owu • 17 Quaye • 18 E. Addo • 19 Pimpong • 20 O. Addo • 21 Issah • 22 Kingson • 23 Dramani • Coach: Dujković

Ghana squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations Third Place 1 Adjei • 2 Sarpei • 3 A. Gyan • 4 Paintsil • 5 Mensah • 6 Annan • 7 Kingston • 8 Essien • 9 Agogo • 10 Asamoah • 11 Muntari • 12 Ayew • 13 B. Gyan • 14 Kumordzi • 15 Barusso • 16 Fatawu Dauda • 17 Asare • 18 Addo • 19 Shilla • 20 Owusu-Abeyie • 21 Afful • 22 Kingson • 23 Dramani • Coach: Le Roy