Bennard Yao Kumordzi (born 21 March 1985) 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. He mostly played for

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

and more recently Genk and Kortijk.

Club career

Early career in Ghana and Sweden

Kumordzi started his career playing street football at Klagon FC Youth before signing for lower-league side Supreme FC. After playing three league matches in the 3rd Division he trialled with a number of clubs in Europe, finally joining a Swedish amateur club called FC Norrköping. During a cup match in July 2005 between FCN amateurs and IK Sleipner, a Second Division club, Kumordzi performed magnificently to win the match for his amateur club. Stefan Hellberg, the then-coach of Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

side IFK Norrköping, who was at the game, told journalists that he had just discovered a gem. He gave him a trial with his club and Kumordzi jumped six tiers in the football league pyramid from the sixth Division amateurs to the

. However, he never became a regular starter in the team. His stay there was ended after Kumordzi going on a strike on contractual disputes with his former club FC Norrköping.

Greece

During the strike he had gone to Greece to practice with Greek Super League side

Egaleo FC Egaleo Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αιγάλεω 1931) is a Greek professional football club based in Egaleo, a suburb of Athens, Greece. Founded in 1946, it uses all documents of previous club (Ierapolis F.C., founded in 1931). The team current ...

. He signed a five-year contract with the Greek outfit. In January 2007, the Hellenic Football Federation awarded Kumordzi the ''Most Valuable Player'' award for the first half of the

2006–07 Super League Greece The 2006–07 Super League Greece was the 71st season of the highest football league of Greece and the inaugural under the name ''Super League''. The season began on 19 August 2006 and ended on 13 May 2007. Olympiacos clinched the title on 22 Apr ...

season. Among clubs scouting Kumordzi was German Bundesliga side

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

. His excellent performances were the reason that he gained a transfer to a bigger team. He signed a contract with

on 23 May 2007.

France and Dijon

His performances in the Greek Super League earned Kumordzi a move to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Dijon FCO in January 2012 .

International career

On 20 January 2007, Kumordzi was called up by Ghana's Olympic Team known as the ''Black Meteors'' for the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Qualifier against Burkina Faso Olympic Team. He also played the two-legged tie of the 2007 All-African Games qualifying match against Nigeria U-23, which Ghana won. On his 22nd Birthday, Kumordzi received his first senior call up for Ghana, as a direct injury replacement for Ghana captain

Stephen Appiah Stephen Leroy Appiah ( ; born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He capta ...

for Ghana's

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

International friendlies against Austria and Brazil on 24 and 27 March 2007. His international debut was against Brazil on 27 March 2007 at the

Råsunda Stadium Råsunda Stadium (; also known as Råsunda Fotbollsstadion, Råsundastadion, Råsunda Football Stadium or just Råsunda) was the Swedish national football stadium. It was located in Solna Municipality in Stockholm and named after the district i ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden when Ghana lost 1–0. He scored his first goal for Ghana against Iran 28 June 2007, at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Style of play

In 2005, Swedish newspaper

Folkbladet ''Folkbladet'' (Swedish: ''The People's Paper'') is a Swedish-language newspaper published in Norrköping, Sweden. The paper has been in circulation since 1905. History and profile The paper was founded by workers with the name ''Östergötla ...

compared Kumordzi to

Nigeria international Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian team Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, and ...

. Kumordzi stateed he admired Patrick Vieira who played for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Honours

Genk * Belgian Cup:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* *
Player Profile – Ghana’s Bennard Yaw Kumordzi
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumordzi, Bennard Yao 1985 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players IFK Norrköping players Panionios F.C. players Egaleo F.C. players Dijon FCO players K.R.C. Genk players K.V. Kortrijk players Super League Greece players Ligue 1 players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium