Christian Kwesi Annan (; born 3 May 1978) is a former Ghanaian-born

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

or left winger. He is renowned in Hong Kong for his high pace and dribbling skill.

Club career

Eastern

Christian Annan arrived in Hong Kong to continue his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

career in 2005. Unfortunately, he arrived at a time when most clubs in the First Division had already finished their foreign player signings, and so he joined Eastern, a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club instead. With 14 goals in 11 matches, including a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

against Tai Po, Annan successfully gained the attention of his then opponent. When Tai Po had successfully obtained their promotion status after the 2005–06 season, they signed Annan immediately.

Tai Po

Although he did not have the same impact in front of goal when compared to his time in the Second Division, Annan bagged 6 goals in 21 matches and became Tai Po's top scorer (along with defender Joel), helping the team to successfully avoid relegation. His performances were also thrown into the limelight with his selection into the Hong Kong League XI for the

Lunar New Year Cup 2007 The 2007 Lunar New Year Cup (formerly known as the Carlsberg Cup) was a football tournament held in Hong Kong on the first and fourth day of the Chinese New Year of the Pig (19 January and 22 January 2007). Participating teams * China Olympic T ...

. With only a brief appearance in the first match against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, Annan started the next match against Australia U-23, was fouled in the box, gaining a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

for his team which ultimately tied the match (penalty scored by

Keith Gumbs Keith "Kayamba" Gumbs (born 11 September 1972 in St. Kitts, Saint Kitts and Nevis) is a retired St. Kitts and Nevis international football player. Playing career Gumbs began playing football while he was attending the Newtown Primary School ...

) in injury time. His contribution on Tai Po has been further rewarded: he was selected into the 2006–07 Squad of the Year in the

Hong Kong Footballer Awards The Hong Kong Top Footballers Awards (), established by the Hong Kong Football Association in 1978, recognizes the top performers for each season's Hong Kong Premier League. The prizes are decided according to the votes from mass media and the ge ...

. In season 2007–2008, Annan kept performing and being selected into the first squad of Hong Kong League XI for the Lunar New Year Cup 2008. He only dropped out of the final selection due to the overload of attacking players. He scored 7 goals in the season, being named the second top league scorer of the team along with striking partner Betine, behind Dega. In the 2011–12 season, on 18 September 2011, Annan appeared as a second-half substitute and scored twice against

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, in ...

, but Tai Po still lost the game, 4–2.

Kitchee

On 9 June 2013, Annan joined Kitchee on a free transfer along with his former Tai Po strike partner

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

. On 3 September 2013, Annan made his debut for Kitchee in a 6–2 victory against Sun Hei. On 19 October 2013, Annan scored his first goal for Kitchee by netting the winner in a 1–0 victory against

Yokohama FC Hong Kong Metro Gallery Football Club () is a Hong Kong football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong First Division. History The team began as Fourway Athletics (), it joined Hong Kong First Division in 2008–09 season as a competition memb ...

. On 12 July 2017, Annan was recalled from loan after he spent the 2016–17 season at

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

Hong Kong League XI

On 18 July 2010, Annan was selected into Hong Kong League Selection against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in the Hong Kong Stadium. He scored a goal in the match and was the MVP of the match. After the match, it was rumoured that the manager of

Alex McLeish was interested in signing Annan.

Hoi King

On 20 August 2018, Annan was sent on loan to fellow HKPL side Hoi King.

Rangers

On 28 August 2019, Annan joined

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He played 17 matches for Rangers during the 2019–20 season including league and cup games, before the HKPL was suspended from mid of March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Tai Po

In August 2021, Annan returned to Tai Po.

International career

On 12 February 2014, after residing in Hong Kong for more than 7 years, Annan was granted the HKSAR passport, making him eligible for the Hong Kong national football team. On 6 September 2014, Annan made his international debut for

in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Vietnam. Annan scored his first international goal for

against

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

on 11 June 2015 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Honours

Club

;Tai Po *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong Pr ...

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 ...

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. Th ...

: 2008–09 ;Kitchee * Hong Kong Premier League: 2014–15, 2017–18 *

Hong Kong First Division The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...

: 2013–14 *

: 2014–15, 2017–18 * Hong Kong Sapling Cup: 2017–18 * Hong Kong League Cup: 2014–15, 2015–16

Individual

* Hong Kong Top Footballers: 2006–07

Career statistics

Club

:''As of 12 July 2017''

International

:''As of 5 March 2014''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Hong Kong's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Annan's wife, Irene, is a Hong Konger. The couple have a daughter named Precious�
African soccer players flee war and poverty in search of a better life in Hong Kong
��, ''South China Morning Post'', 8 October 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Annan, Christian 1978 births Living people Ghanaian footballers Hong Kong footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Ghanaian emigrants to Hong Kong Men's association football forwards Eastern Sports Club footballers Tai Po FC players Kitchee SC players Hong Kong Pegasus FC players Hoi King SA players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Yuen Long FC players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong Asian Games competitors for Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI representative players