Top 5 Ghanaian Players Who Didn’t Play For Ghana

Do you know how many Ghanaian players who didn't play for Ghana? There quite a number of them.

I will highlight some of them here in this article.

Ghanaian Players Who Didn't Play For Ghana

5 INAKI WILLIAMS ARTHUR

Inaki Williams Arthur was born in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain, to a Ghanaian father and a Liberian mother.

His parents left Liberia for Spain as Refugees in the 90's due to war crimes, which was how he ended up being born in Spain.

Inkai currently plays for Spanish side Athletic Bilbao as a winger and has racked up a number of goals to his name.

Williams officially plays for the Spanish team, leaving his African side with no joy.

4 JEROME AGYENIM BOATENG

Jerome Agyenim Boateng was born in Berlin, West Germany, to a Ghanaian father and German mother.

He plays as a centre-back for Bayern Munich and is the half younger brother of Kevin Prince Boateng.

Jerome Has won several titles, including the German league. Before playing for the German side, he played for Manchester City from 2010-2011, though he didn't see many games.

He represented Germany as an under 17 player and continued to the senior team.

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3 MARIO BALOTELLI

“WHY ALWAYS ME”

These phrase revealed by Mario Balotelli after blasting a goal against Manchester United in a derby match went on to become a global phenomenon that broke barriers.

This pretty much put Mario's name on every mouth.

A lot is known about Mario club career and the Italian National Team, but the same can’t be said about his Ghanaian ancestry.

Mario is born to Ghanaian parents Thomas Barwuah and Rose Barwuah with both migrating to Italy where he was born.

This meant he could have played for the Black Stars but chose to play for the country where he grew up.

Meanwhile, his older sister, Abigail Barwuah, is married to ex-Super Eagles Ace Obafemi Martins.

2 MEMPHIS DEPAY

Memphis Depay was born on 13th February 1994 in Moordrecht, Netherlands, to a Ghanaian father and a Dutch mother.

As a Dutch citizen, he plays for the Netherlands national football team as a forward.

He has played for different teams, but his best highlight was with Manchester united.

However, his time with the club was short-lived as he could not really find his foot in a team going through a transitional phase after the retirement of their greatest manager.

His lean spell with the team didn't deter him, though.

He went to French side Lyon and found his form again. He still plays for the club to date.

When asked why he decided not to play for Ghana, Depay revealed it was because he didn't want anything to do with his Ghanaian father, who abandoned him and his mother when he was only four years old.

So thick is this bitterness that he even refuses to wear his father's name on his jersey.

1 GEORGINIO WIJNALDUM

You definitely know who this guy is.

He was the same player who blasted two goals past a Messi-led Barcelona in the 2019 UCL semi-final, a match that went on to become a miraculous Anfield comeback.

Well, Georginio is more than those two goals.

The Netherlands international is a champions league and premier league winner with Liverpool, and he didn't win both from the sidelines as he played a great role in both successes.

While Wijnaldum may be known for his club and international heroics, only limited information is available on his ancestry.

So you know, Wijnaldum could have played for the Ghana international team as both his parents are Ghanaians.

He, however, chose to play for Netherland.

So, those are the five Ghanaian Players Who Didn't Play For Ghana that I have chosen to write about. If you know any more of them, you can contribute using the comment box.

This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago