David Osei Opoku (born 31 January 1992) 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 le ...

who currently plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Muaither SC Muaither SC ( ar, نادي معيذر الرياضي) is a multi-sports club based in Muaither, Qatar. It is best known for its football department, which plays in the Qatari Second Division. History 1996–2013: Second division The club was fo ...

Playing career

Youth and college

Opoku played for

Achimota School Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school wa ...

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and trained with

Chelsea FC Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. Th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

before moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to play college football for the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

. He spent 2 seasons with the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team is an NCAA Division I college soccer team composed of student-athletes attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Gauchos play their home matches at Harder Stadium. Like most of the ...

team and was named the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

Freshman of the Year in 2010 in addition to being named to the 2010 All-Big West Second Team. He ended his career with the Gauchos with 15 goals and 7 assists.

Professional

After a few months of trials, Opoku signed a contract with Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

club

Myllykosken Pallo −47 Myllykosken Pallo -47 (or MYPA, formerly MyPa) is a Finnish football club, based in the industrial village of Myllykoski, part of the city of Kouvola. The club temporarily shut down after having ceased operations in 2015 due to financial dif ...

in April 2012. He played in 13 Veikkausliiga matches with the club, scoring no goals. He did score in his lone

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

appearance on 12 July 2012 against

Cefn Druids A.F.C. Cefn Druids Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Derwyddon Cefn) is an association football team based in the village of Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, Wales, who play in the Cymru North after being relegated from the Cymru Premier in 2021� ...

Opoku was sent on loan to

IF Gnistan IF Gnistan (''The Spark'' in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Must ...

, who play in the Finnish

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...

, in August 2012 to see out the remainder of his contract where he scored 7 goals in 10 matches. He joined Iranian club

Sanat Mes Kerman F.C. Mes Kerman Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال صنعت مس کرمان, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Sân't-e Mes Kârman'') is an Iranian professional football team based in Kerman, Iran. They were promoted to Iran's top league, the Iran Pr ...

on a short-term deal in March 2014 and recorded one assist during his time with the club. In Fall 2015, he signed for

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...

side

Al Egtmaaey Tripoli Al Egtmaaey Sporting Club (), known as Egtmaaey Tripoli or simply Egtmaeey, is a association football, football club based in Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, Lebanon, that competes in the . Club rivalries Egtmaaey plays the Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripo ...

. He then joined rivals

Tripoli SC Tripoli Sporting Club (), also known as AC Tripoli or simply Tripoli, is a football club based in Tripoli, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded as Al Majd Sports Association (), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club () in 2001, ...

the following year. In the summer of 2017, he signed with

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

club

International

David was called up to train with the

Ghana national under-23 football team Ghana U23 football team (also known as Ghana Olympic football team or Black Meteors), represents Ghana in international football competitions in Olympic Games, All-Africa Games, and CAF U-23 Championship. The selection is limited to players ag ...

in June 2011 when he was still enrolled at UC Santa Barbara. He appeared in an exhibition against Deportivo FC and scored a goal. He was again called up to camp with the national team in October 2014 and made the trip to Nigeria to play against the Nigerian senior national team in a friendly played in honor of the opening of the Akwa Ibom international stadium. He made second half appearance in the game and nearly equalized.

Honours

Individual

Freshman of the Year: 2010

References

External links

* *
David Opoku
on HailooSport *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Opoku, David 1992 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Sanat Mes Kerman F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Muaither SC players Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Veikkausliiga players IF Gnistan players Qatari Second Division players Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon Expatriate men's footballers in Lebanon Al Egtmaaey SC players AC Tripoli players Lebanese Premier League players