World stars to grace Osei Kuffour’s testimonial match

An array of world acclaimed football stars will headline the testimonial match of ex-Black Stars defender, Samuel Osei Kuffour later in the year.

The 34-year old will formally bid farewell to the globular leather with the testimonial game featuring the Black Stars against a select team of renowned and accomplish footballers on Friday, December 23 at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi.

At a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, Kuuku Yankah, a member of the organising team said the game being organised under the auspices of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and German giants, Bayern Munich will serve the platform for Kuffour to officially announce his retirement from football.

Yankah said the event, a novelty, is expected to become a tradition to honour footballers when they hang up their boots.

Aside the rich collection of current and retired old players, globally acclaimed, including Manchester United legends Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, four-time CAF Footballer of the Year, Samuel Eto’o, Nigerians Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Shaun Bartlett and Mark Fish of South Africa, Rigobert Song, Patrick Mboma and Pierre Wome from Cameroon are expected to feature in the event.

Kuffour’s Bayern Munich teammates including Lothar Mathaus, Oliver Kahn, Pablo Thiam, Stefan Effenberg, Alexander Zickler and Roy Makaay are also billed to play a part in the game.

An emotional Kuffour said “I cannot play all the time. There is time for everything. It is over and it is over”.

He expressed gratitude to his mum and all others who played positive roles and assisted him during his playing career.

According to the organizers, proceeds of the game will be donated to the Kumasi Children’s Home, Otumfuo Educational Trust Fund and the National Colts Championship.

Kuffour is unarguably one of the most decorated Ghanaian players of his generation spanning almost two decades.

He holds an enviable record of having featured for every Ghanaian national team from the junior ranks to the senior level.

At club level, he enjoyed a successful 11-year stint with Bayern Munich where he won the UEFA Champions League in 2001, and also had spells with AS Roma, Livorno and Ajax.

Kuffour featured for the Black Stars from 1993 to 2006 making 59 appearances with three goals.

Source: GNA