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Nii Lamptey

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Ghanaian footballer and manager

Nii Lamptey
Lamptey in 2019
Personal information
Full name Nii Odartey Lamptey
Date of birth (1974-12-10) 10 December 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth Tema, Ghana
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team Elmina Sharks (head coach)
Youth career
Young Corners
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1995 Anderlecht 30 (9)
1993–1994 → PSV (loan) 22 (10)
1994–1995 Aston Villa 10 (0)
1995–1996 Coventry City 6 (0)
1996–1997 Venezia 5 (0)
1997 Boca Juniors 0 (0)
1997 → Unión Santa Fe (loan) 6 (0)
1997–1998 Ankaragücü 10 (1)
1998–1999 União Leiria 7 (0)
1999–2001 Greuther Fürth 36 (5)
2001–2002 Shandong Luneng 37 (7)
2003–2004 Al-Nasr Dubai ? (?)
2005–2006 Asante Kotoko ? (?)
2006–2008 Jomo Cosmos ? (?)
Total 169 (32)
International career
1991–1996 Ghana 38 (8)
Managerial career
2009 Sekondi Wise Fighters (assistant coach)
2021 Elmina Sharks (head coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Medal record
Men's association football
Representing  Ghana
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona Team competition

Nii Odartey Lamptey (born 10 December 1974) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer and current manager of Elmina Sharks as well as the proprietor of a school in Accra called Glow-Lamp International School. During his career he played as a striker from 1990 until 2008 notably for Aston Villa, PSV Eindhoven, Coventry City and the Ghana national football team.

He is known foremost for his erratic career, in which he became a superstar as a teenager and then suffered a long string of failures which burnt him out well before his time. Lamptey has been used as a byword for a cautionary tale of putting too much pressure on young players to be successful.

He also played for Anderlecht, Venezia, Boca Juniors, Unión Santa Fe, Ankaragücü, União Leiria, Greuther Fürth, Shandong Luneng, Al-Nassr, Asante Kotoko and Jomo Cosmos.

Early years

Nii Lamptey was born in Tema, but grew up in the two biggest Ghanaian cities, Accra and Kumasi. He had a miserable childhood, as his parents abused and neglected him. His father was an alcoholic who often beat and lashed him and sometimes burnt his body with cigarettes. Lamptey often refused to spend the nights home and frequently skipped school, only finding refuge in football. Soon, he began to excel in this sport, despite his father heckling him and hurling verbal abuse from the sidelines whenever he watched his son play football.

When Lamptey was eight, his parents divorced, and his stepfather threw him out of the household. Lamptey found refuge in a Muslim football camp and converted from Christianity to Islam to qualify for entry. When his stepfather found this out, he accused his stepson of sacrilege and often quarreled in front of the football camp.

Club career

Anderlecht

Lamptey played for the youth team Young Corners in Accra, but wanted to move abroad to play. However, the Ghanaian FA refused and confiscated his passport, wishing to build a team around him in Ghana. He therefore was smuggled into Nigeria by a taxi driver, where he met Nigerian captain Stephen Keshi, who had heard of his skills. Keshi persuaded Lamptey to play in Belgium with him, and took Lamptey with him, giving him a fake Nigerian passport that stated Lamptey was his son.

He was hailed as the new Pelé and age limit rules in Belgium were changed to allow him to debut at the age of 16 for Anderlecht.

His first season was a success, scoring 7 goals in 14 games.

PSV Eindhoven

He was loaned to Eindhoven, and quickly established himself as a prolific scorer, and continued to impress, scoring 10 times in 22 games.

Aston Villa

Ron Atkinson brought Lamptey to Aston Villa in the summer of 1994. This move came as a surprise, as PSV was a more successful club than Aston Villa at the time and Lamptey was one of the star players at PSV. However, Lamptey had signed an exclusive marketing contract with an Italian player agent. The player's agent, Antonio Caliendo, would get 25% of whatever Lamptey's transfer fee was, and accordingly sold him to Villa as that would mean the largest commission for himself. Lamptey's illiteracy allowed Caliendo to take advantage of him, even pocketing a signing on bonus intended for Lamptey. He failed to impress at Villa Park, scoring just three times, all of which came in the League Cup against Wigan Athletic (once in the home leg and twice in the away leg).

Coventry City

Following Atkinson's dismissal as Villa boss, he re-signed Lamptey for his new club Coventry City. Again Lamptey would score his only goals in the League Cup, netting twice against Hull City (once in the home leg and once in the away leg). However, despite his failure at Coventry, his name was not forgotten. From the start of the 2012–13 season, a group of Coventry City fans launched a podcast entitled The Nii Lamptey Show in honour of their former player.

Later career

Lamptey joined Venezia in Italy. Later, he was signed by Boca Juniors and went on loan at that same year at Unión de Santa Fe in Argentina. There, he and his wife had their third child, Diego. But soon, Diego died of a rare disease. A major emotional blow was also the fact that Lamptey wanted to bury his son in Ghana, but the authorities declined. Heartbroken, Lamptey temporarily gave up football. After unsuccessful stints at Ankaragücü and União Leiria, Lamptey got himself a new German player agent who transferred him to SpVgg Greuther Fürth. However, Lamptey and his wife were unhappy there, unable to live through the culture shock in Germany. Lamptey was not entirely unsuccessful, being a reliable backup, but was found too fragile for the rough 2. Bundesliga. He was also reportedly ignored by his German colleagues, and once, a colleague flat-out refused to sleep in the same hotel room as him. This blatant racism shocked Lamptey, but even worse was the fact that his child Lisa also died soon after birth. Also Lamptey's second dead child was buried abroad, in Germany. The Lampteys soon left for Asia.

Lamptey then joined Shandong Luneng Tai Shan in China.

On 5 March 2007, Lamptey signed for South African side Jomo Cosmos.

International career

Youth

1991 U-17 World Cup

Lamptey first began to attract global attention in 1991. He led Ghana to win the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship with the team known as the Black Starlets after playing in the 1989 version as a 15-year-old. He won the FIFA Best Player of the tournament – the Golden Ball award in a competition that also included Argentina's Juan Sebastian Verón and Marcelo Gallardo and Italy's Alessandro del Piero, Lamptey's star shone more brilliantly than them all, as he dominated everyone in the competition. He was subsequently touted as the next Pelé; by Pelé himself. He scored four goals in that tournament. Lamptey later stated that although appreciated, Pelé's praise made life far harder for him, since everyone therefore had extremely high expectations of him that he was not always able to fulfill.

The adidas Golden Ball could only go to one of the members of the victorious Ghanaian side, and so it was, with Lamptey taking home a very special souvenir from his Italian sojourn. Lamptey was the beating heart of a very good side. His fast feet, speed of thought, and clever interplay with captain Alex Opoku and fellow midfielders Mohammed Gargo and Emmanuel Duah were on display for all to see. His willingness to get into the box was critical too, and his four goals made him joint top-goalscorer.

In recognition of his exquisite football he displayed at the FIFA U-17 Tournament, he was named the 1991 fifth best African Footballer of the Year.

1993 U-20 World Cup

Lamptey's brilliance led an enterprising and unpredictable Ghana's U-20 team, known as the "Black Satellites" to win the 1993 African U-20 Cup of Nations and then lost the final of the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Australia to Brazil, who came from a goal down to win the trophy at the death, 2–1. He also scored in the match.

Summer Olympics

In the Summer of 1992, young superstar Nii Lamptey led Ghana to win a Bronze medal at the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics football tournament. Ghana, who had the youngest team by far in the competition (the average age of the squad was 18.8 years), were surprise bronze medallists, becoming the first African nation to earn a medal. They did so in a 1–0 victory over yet another surprise, Australia.

Senior

His international career with Ghana dried up after he was sent off in the 1996 African Cup of Nations semi-final game.

Retirement

Lamptey retired from football in 2008. He now breeds cattle and sheep on a farm on the outskirts of Accra. He served as a pundit on Ghanaian television during the 2014 World Cup.

He also founded Glow-lamp International School, so as to give back to society and ensure than children have the chance to learn to read and write: something he was never able to do. As of 2017, his school has almost 400 pupils. He also has a football academy he coaches at in Elmina.

Lamptey has said that despite everything, he does not feel like a loser, but rather as a hardened survivor who refuses to be destroyed, and whom God will not punish.

Personal life

Lamptey married Gloria Appiah in 1993. The marriage was a controversial one, angering his brothers, as Appiah is from a different tribe (Fante) to his (Ga). He had five children, of whom two died to lung diseases. However, a DNA test revealed he was not the biological father of the remaining three children and he divorced her. Appiah filed for an appeal in court, requesting 50% of his assets in the divorce including occupancy at the couple's East Legon apartment, but was refused by the judge.

As of 2016, Lamptey is engaged to actress and model Ruweida Yakuba with whom he has two children.

He has had a feud with Ghanaian star Abedi Pele, but refuses to disclose the reason.

Coaching career

On 19 February 2009 signed a contract as Assistant at Sekondi Wise Fighters; here he assisted the new Head Coach Charles Akonnor. He also owns a football academy in Elmina that he coaches at.

Honours

Anderlecht

Asante Kotoko

Ghana U-17

Ghana U-20

Ghana U-23

References

  • Der afrikanische Pelé (the African Pelé), documentary by the German TV station WDR, on 14 April 2006
  1. Wilson, Jonathan (3 February 2008). "Tortured genius: burnt and beaten, Ghana golden boy is lucky to be alive". London: Guardian UK. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  2. ^ Lawrence, Amy (3 April 2004). "The next Pele, or the next Nii Lamptey?". BBC. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  3. ^ "Big interview: Nii Odartey Lamptey". The Guardian. 3 February 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. "Lamptey could return to Belgium". bbc.co.uk. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 19 May 2001.
  5. ^ Garganese, Carlo (21 March 2017). "What ever happened to Nii Lamptey? The 'new Pele' whose career & family was tragically torn apart | Goal.com". Goal. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  6. "To be a man...: Has life played its last cruel card on Odartey Lamptey? | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  7. "Aston Villa 5 (2) - 0 (0) Wigan". Soccerbase. 21 September 1994. Archived from the original on 3 May 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  8. "Wigan 0 (0) - 3 (1) Aston Villa". Soccerbase. 5 October 1994. Archived from the original on 3 May 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  9. "Coventry 2 (2) - 0 (0) Hull". Soccerbase. 20 September 1995. Archived from the original on 21 May 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  10. "Hull 0 (0) - 1 (1) Coventry". Soccerbase. 4 October 1995. Archived from the original on 1 December 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  11. "Nii Lamptey Show". niilampteyshow.libsyn.com. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  12. "Chinese check out Lamptey". bbc.co.uk. 2 June 2001. Retrieved 2 June 2001.
  13. "Lamptey moves to Jomo Cosmos". BBC. 5 March 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  14. "FIFA World Cup Most Entertaining Team Award". RSSSF. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  15. "Under 19 cricketers have failed to unlock potential after World Cup". The National. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  16. "Nii Lamptey: the next Pelé whose life descended into turmoil". These Football Times. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  17. "Italy 1991: Ghana go all the way". Fifa.com. 30 November 2000. Archived from the original on 26 May 2006.
  18. Bobrowsky, Josef (21 December 2000). "African Player of the Year 1991". RSSSF. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  19. Garin, Erik (5 January 2000). "African U-21 Championship 1993". RSSSF. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  20. FIFA.com
  21. FIFA.com
  22. ^ "Barcelona, 1992". Fifa.com. 7 November 2000. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007.
  23. FIFA.com
  24. Courtney, Barrie (18 March 2002). "African Nations Cup 1996 - Final Tournament Details". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  25. Smyth, Rob (7 March 2008). "The Joy of Six: football's lost talents". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  26. "Nii Lamptey Show". Archived from the original on 30 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  27. "SHAMELESS Cheating Former Wife of Nii Odartey Lamptey Loses Court Case Brought to Get 50 Percent of Odartey's Assets Even After Making Him Take Care of Children Who Were Never His - Ghanacelebrities.com". Ghanacelebrities.com. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  28. "Nii Odartey Lamptey wins court case against ex-wife - citifmonline.com". citifmonline.com. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  29. "Akonnor and Lamptey to get coaching slots". modernghana.com. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  30. ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Nii Odartey Lamptey". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

External links

Ghana squads
Ghana squad – 1992 African Cup of Nations runners-up
Ghana
Ghana football squad – 1992 Summer Olympics – Bronze medalists
Ghana
Ghana squad – 1994 African Cup of Nations
Ghana
Ghana squad – 1996 African Cup of Nations fourth place
Ghana
FIFA U-17 World Cup awards
Golden Ball
Golden Shoe
Golden Glove
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