Awudu Issaka (born 26 June 1979) is a Ghanaian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Issaka was born in

Sunyani Sunyani is a city and the capital town of the Bono Region and the Sunyani Municipal District, Sunyani Municipal of Ghana. Sunyani had a population of 74,24at the 2010 population and housing census. The city consists mainly of the Bonos by tribe ...

. He started playing football at the youth teams of

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

, before he moved to Prampram Mighty Royals FC in Ghana's second division, where he already played for the first team at the age of fifteen. In 1995, soon after the FIFA World Youth Championship, Issaka signed a contract at the Belgian club

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

, where he mainly played for their youth team. Issaka caught the eye of the French club

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

, in 1996 at a youth tournament. Soon after that he agreed to play for Auxerre, where he played until 1998. In the 1998–99 season Issaka moved to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

, where he played until the 2003–04 season. Then he played for his former club Prampram Mighty Royals FC for the rest of the 2004–05 season. Issaka later moved to

Liberty Professionals Liberty Professionals Football Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Dansoman, Accra. History Liberty Professionals, was founded in 1996 by Accra-based businessmen Felix Ansong and Alhaji Sly Tetteh. The club was one of the earl ...

, and played the 2005–06 season in the Ghana Telecom Premier League in Ghana. In July 2006 Issaka, joined the newly promoted Ghana Telecom Premier League club Tema Youth.

International career

He played for the Ghana under-17 team in the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

in 1995 in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. Issaka also took part in the

FIFA World Youth Championship 1997 The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, where Ghana finished on fourth position.

Honours

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

– 4th place *

1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1995, the sixth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Quito, Ibarra, Ecuador, Ibarra, Cuenca, Ecuador, Cuenca, and Riobamba in Ecuador between 3 and 20 August 1995. Players bo ...

World Champion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Issaka, Awudu 1979 births Living people Ghanaian Muslims Ghanaian footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Ghana international footballers AJ Auxerre players Expatriate footballers in France TSV 1860 Munich II players TSV 1860 Munich players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany Liberty Professionals F.C. players Tema Youth players Ghana under-20 international footballers Association football midfielders