Samuel Kuffour

In the 2001 Intercontinental Cup final in Tokyo, Samuel Kuffour scored the extra-time winner against Boca Juniors and was named man of the match. It capped the year in which he won the Champions League with Bayern Munich and was voted BBC African Footballer of the Year.

Early life

Samuel Osei Kuffour was born on 3 September 1976 in Kumasi and played youth football for Fantomas and King Faisal Babes. As a 15-year-old he helped Ghana win the 1991 FIFA U-17 world title, and at 15 he won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Torino signed him in 1991 before Bayern Munich took him to Germany in 1993.

Bayern Munich

He stayed in Munich until 2005, apart from a 1995-96 loan at 1. FC Nurnberg, and played 175 Bundesliga games for Bayern. The centre-back won six Bundesliga titles, four German Cups and the 2000-01 Champions League. His late career took him to AS Roma in 2005, on loan to Livorno and Ajax, and briefly back home to Asante Kotoko in 2009, where he retired without playing an official match.

Black Stars

He made his senior debut against Sierra Leone on 28 November 1993, aged 17, and won 54 caps with three goals, captaining the team at 23. He played at the 2006 World Cup, Ghana's first. Ghanaian football writers voted him the country's best player three times, in 1998, 1999 and 2001, and finished second in the African Footballer of the Year vote in 1999 and 2001. In 2007 CAF named him among the 30 best African players of the previous 50 years.

After football

He became a SuperSport pundit from the 2010 World Cup and shaved his head on live television in February 2015 after Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations campaign. He joined the Asante Kotoko board in 2013, was briefly announced as the club's chief executive in October 2014, and has served on the management committees of the Black Starlets and, from January 2020, the Black Stars.

Family

His daughter Godiva drowned in January 2003. His son, Sam Kuffour Jr, is also a professional footballer.