David Accam (born 28 September 1990) is a Ghanaian 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 ...

who plays as a winger for Finnish club

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku and colloquially known as Inter, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland, that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1 ...

. He has won 11 caps for the Ghana national team.

Club career

Ghana

Accam did not belong to a club during the first twelve years of his life. He instead spent his time playing with friends on gravel pitches in the parks of Accra. There, he was spotted by a scout from Ghana-based

Right to Dream Academy Right to Dream is a Ghanaian Youth system, football academy. The academy started in 1999 training a small number of boys in Accra and grew into a residential school and training center. As of 2021 it was owned by Mansour Group. History Right to ...

, where he would spend four years.

England

In 2008, Accam received a three-year scholarship to study at Hartpury College in England. He combined his time there with playing in the English lower leagues. After signing for English club Ledbury Town, Accam scored on his debut in December 2009. He then played for English club Evesham United during the 2010–11 season while also featuring in the reserve team squad at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. The fact that Accam was in England on a student

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

prevented him from playing for their first team, or any club in a higher division. After his time at Evesham United he took part in the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

"The Chance" competition where he was one of eight winners who got to spend the 2011–2012 season with Nike Football Academy.

Sweden

In March 2012, Accam signed for Swedish third tier side

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

. English manager Graham Potter was in charge of the club and he had already signed two other Ghanaians who were studying with Accam at Hartpury College. And after scouting him at the Nike Academy he brought Accam with him back to Sweden. Accam became an immediate success with his new team and several Allsvenskan clubs became interested in signing him for the summer

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

. Accam was then signed by Allsvenskan club

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

in August 2012, and was due to be loaned back to Östersund for the remainder of the season, but was recalled by Helsingborg for an upcoming Champions League qualifying match against Celtic. The 2 million SEK transfer fee paid by Helsingborg was the highest ever for a player from the Swedish third tier. After scoring seventeen goals in twenty-six appearances, the club announced that Accam would be leaving Helsingborg to pursue opportunities elsewhere. After he made the announcement, Accam was linked with a move away from Tigres,

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

and

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

, a number of English clubs and

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

. Accam rejected a move to CSKA Moscow, having insisted that Accam hadn't been in talks with the club.

Major League Soccer

Despite initially denying the move, Accam signed as a

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

with Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer on 19 December 2014. After three seasons with Chicago, on 19 January 2018 Accam was traded to Philadelphia Union in exchange for $900,000 in Targeted Allocation Money and $300,000 in General Allocation Money. In Accam's first season with Philadelphia, he was hampered by injuries and recorded just one goal in 23 appearances. His form picked up in his second season, scoring 4 goals with 2 assists in 11 games, however, he was traded to

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

on 8 May 2019. On 16 May, it was announced that Accam would be traded to

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

, effective 1 January 2020, and would play out the 2019 season with the Crew. Following the 2021 season and his loan with Hammarby, Accam's contract option was declined by Nashville and he became a free agent.

Return to Sweden

On 28 January 2021, Accam joined Swedish side Hammarby IF on a 12-month loan with an option to transfer. He made his competitive debut for the side on 1 April against

Trelleborgs FF Trelleborgs Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Trelleborgs FF or simply Trelleborg, is a Swedish football club located in Trelleborg. Formed 6 December 1926, the club plays in Superettan, the second tier in the Swedish Football system. ...

in the quarter-final of the

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

, the main domestic cup. His side won 3–2

after extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

, with Accam coming on as a substitute and scoring in his debut. On 30 May 2021, Accam won the

2020–21 Svenska Cupen The 2020–21 Svenska Cupen was the 65th season of the Svenska Cupen and the ninth season with the current format. Hammarby won the cup for the first time and secured a spot in the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference Le ...

with Hammarby IF, through a 5–4 win on penalties (0–0 after full-time) against

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

in the final, where he scored his attempt. At the end of the year, it was announced that Accam would leave the club at the expiration of his loan deal.

Finland

In August 2022, Accam signed with Finnish side

on a 4 month contract, with an option to extend it for an additional year.

International career

Accam received his first call-up to the Ghana national team for a

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

match against Sudan on 24 March 2013, in which he was an unused substitute. On 12 May 2014, Accam was named in a provisional 26-man squad in the 2014 World Cup by Ghana manager

James Kwesi Appiah James Kwesi Appiah (born 30 June 1960), also known as Akwasi Appiah, is a Ghanaian football coach and former player who played as a left back. He is currently the head coach of Kenpong Football Academy. Early life and education Appiah was born ...

. However, on 2 June 2014, Accam was left out of the World Cup squad. Accam expressed his disappointment of being dropped for the World Cup squad. On 15 November 2014, Accam made his international debut for Ghana in a 1–0 defeat to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

in a

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute for Christian Atsu. He was selected as part of Ghana's preliminary squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Personal life

Accam received his U.S. green card in October 2015 which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes. Accam is a lifelong Arsenal fan and is a devout Christian. He married Ghanaian women's international footballer Florence Dadson on 3 January 2019 in Cape Coast, Ghana.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Hammarby IF *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Accam, David Living people 1990 births Ghanaian Christians Ghanaian footballers Footballers from Accra Association football wingers Right to Dream Academy players Ledbury Town F.C. players Evesham United F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Nike Academy players Östersunds FK players Helsingborgs IF players Chicago Fire FC players Philadelphia Union players Columbus Crew players Nashville SC players Hammarby Fotboll players Southern Football League players Ettan Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Major League Soccer players Ghana international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Ghanaian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate soccer players in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Designated Players (MLS)