Meet the four Ghanaian players to have won tournament best player at AFCON

Meet the four Ghanaian players to have won tournament best player at AFCON

Lukman Mumuni
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:54 PM
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CAF AFCON
Africa
  • Ghana has been blessed with great talents and some have gone on to make history at the Africa Cup of Nations
  • The West African giants have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times and in most of their successful campaign, a talent emerges
  • Four players from Ghana have ended up win player of the tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations

The 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is currently ongoing in Cameroon, and this presents an opportunity for emerging stars as well as established players to showcase their talents.

Ghana, one of the country's at the nations cup traveled with 28 players, and should the West Africans go all the way to the finals, a star will definitely be unearthed.

In the past, the likes of Christian Atsu, the legendary Abedi Pele and Abdul Razak inked their names to the tournaments history by winning the best player award.

Ghanaian players that have won the best player award at AFCON. SOURCE: Twitter/ @ghanafaofficial @GSportsHistory
Meet the four Ghanaian players to have won tournament best player at AFCON. SOURCE: Twitter/ @ghanafaofficial @GSportsHistory
Source: Twitter

SportsBrief.com looks at Ghanaian footballers that have been adjudged player of the tournament, from Osei Kofi- the first to win the award- to Christian Atsu, who won it in 2015.

Osei Kofi - 1965 Africa Cup of Nations Best Player

Having played minimal role at the 1963 AFCON, Osei Kofi, two years later will seize the moment by helping Ghana win the Nations Cup and ended up as the tournament's top scorer.

Osei Kofi was a delight to watch, tricky and could take up defenders with ease. He finished the tournament with three goals, joint top scorer with compatriot Ben Acheampong and Eustache Mingle of Cote D' Ivoire.

He scored his first and Ghana's first goal at the tournament in the 5-2 thrashing of DR Congo.

Kofi will then grab his second of the tournament in the 4-1 victory over neighbours Ivory Coast.

He could not score in the semis, but saved the best for last, netting the match winner in the final against Tunisia.

After the competition, Osei Kofi had offers from English clubs including Stoke City, but refused to travel abroad as he spent his career at Asante Kotoko. The forward went on to scorer 151 goals in 347 games for Kotoko and then netted 17 times in 34 matches for Ghana.

Abdul Razak 'Golden Boy' - 1978 Africa Cup of Nations Best Player

One of the greatest Ghanaian footballers ever, and one of the few to win the African best player award. He was nicknamed the Golden Boy because at his prime he was unstoppable. He created and scored goals for fun.

Abdul Razak scored two important goals at the Nations Cup in 1978, he scored the winner in the opening game against Zambia, before in the 1-0 semi final victory over Tunisia.

The ex-Kotoko played was influential as Ghana won their third Nations Cup title. He scored 25 goals in 70 matches for the Black Stars of Ghana.

Abedi Pele - 1992 Africa Cup of Nations Best Player

Probably Ghana's greatest ever footballer. Abedi Pele nicknamed the Maestro is the most decorated Ghanaian footballer and this began when he made his AFCON debut at the 1982 tournament as a teenager.

Ten years later in 1992, he almost singlehandedly won the competition for Ghana.

However, the suspension he received before the final affected the entire Black Stars team as Ghana missed the AFCON title.

Despite Ghana losing the final, he ended up as the best player of the tournament.

Abedi Ayew won the 1982 AFCON, and he is three times African footballer of the year. A stretch that began from 1991 to 1993.

Christian Atsu - 2015 Africa Cup of Nations best player

Christian Atsu took the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations by storm. Out of nowhere, the then Chelsea player who was struggling to find his feet with the Blues, was unplayable at the tournament.

Atsu heralded the Black Stars to the finals of the competition, only for a penalty shootout disaster to see the West African giants to lose to their neighbours Ivory. Ghana had twice led in the shootouts.

The former Newcastle United star netted a brace in the quarter final victory over Guinea.

Authors
Lukman Mumuni photo
Lukman Mumuni
Lukman Abdul Mumin is a Sports Journalist based in Accra, Ghana. He has been writing for the past five years. Lukman joined Sports Brief as an Editor for the Local Desk in 2022.
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