Godfred Saka (born October 9, 1988) 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 is best known for playing as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Aduana Stars Aduana Football Club is a professional football club, based in Dormaa Ahenkro, Bono Region, Ghana. The club is competing in the Ghanaian Premier League. It made history by winning the Ghana Premier League at their first attempt with 53 points. I ...

and the

Ghana national football team The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international football, doing it since 1957. The team consists of twenty players including the technical team. The team is nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in ...

. He went on to play for Karela United and Accra Great Olympics. He served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for Aduana Stars and Karela United. Saka played for Aduana Stars for 8 years and was included in the team for the Ghana Premier League that was won in the 2009–10 season and the 2017 season. At the international level, he represented Ghana for four major tournaments, playing and winning the

WAFU Nations Cup The WAFU Nations Cup (also known as the WAFU Cup of Nations or simply the WAFU Cup) is an association football competition that is contested by representative teams of the West African Football Union. History A trophy was commissioned by President ...

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, at two

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship (french: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations; abbreviated as CHAN), known as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial African national association football tourname ...

tournament in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

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and the

COSAFA Cup The COSAFA Cup or COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been ...

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Club career

Early career

Saka started his youth career for

Right to Dream Academy Right to Dream is a Ghanaian 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 Dream Academy ...

, he had some training sessions with Everton in England during his formative years as part of the Right to Dream Academy programme.

Aduana Stars

Saka joined

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

club

in July 2009. Saka debuted for Aduana Stars in the

2009–10 Ghanaian Premier League The 2009–10 Ghanaian Premier League (''known as the Glo Premier League for sponsorship reasons'') season was the 51st season of top-tier football in Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in ...

season. He played an instrumental role in helping them win the Ghana Premier League title for the first time in the club's history and setting the record as the first team to win in their debut season. He went on play for the club for 8 years serving as captain in the latter part of his time at the club. As captain, he led them to another Premier League title in the

2017 Ghanaian Premier League The 2017 Ghanaian Premier League is the 61st season of top professional association football in Ghana. The season began on 12 February. Wa All Stars are the defending champions coming off their first league title. The eventual winners Aduana Stars ...

season.

Karela United

In January 2018, Saka joined newly promoted side

Karela United Karela United FC is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Aiyinase, Ellembele District, Western Region. The club competed in the 2019 Ghanaian Normalisation Cup Competition. Karela plays their home matches at the CAM Park. History ...

on a one-year deal after exiting Aduana as a free agent. Prior to joining Karela United, in December 2017, Saka went on trials at Nigerian club

Enyimba Aba is a city in the southeast of Nigeria and the commercial center of Abia State. Upon the creation of Abia state in 1991, Aba was divided into two local government areas namely; Aba South and Aba North. Aba south is the main city centre an ...

and was on the verge of securing a permanent transfer to the club however the deal collapsed. He came out publicly and criticized the club for not being "serious about the deal" after they demanded he stayed at the club for two weeks in order to check his fitness level. Ahead of the season, he was appointed as the captain of the side ahead of their inaugural premier league season. He made his debut for Karela 17 March 2018, in a 1–0 loss to

Medeama SC Medeama Sporting Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Tarkwa, Western Region. The club currently competes in the Ghana Premier League. The club was formerly known as Kessben F.C. before changing its name to Medeama Sporting C ...

. Even though the season was cancelled amid the GFA scandal, he only made 3 league appearances as his season was cut short due to injuries. He later parted ways with the club in January 2019.

Great Olympics

In November 2019, Saka signed for fellow Ghana Premier League club Accra Great Olympics as a free agent ahead of the 2019–20 season. He made his debut during the first match of the season against

Ashanti Gold The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. Dur ...

. The match ended in a 3–0 loss to Olympics. He went on and made 4 league appearances before the league was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana The COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first two cases in Ghana were confirmed on 12 March 2020, when two infected ...

. In June 2020, he terminated his contract with club.

International career

In November 2013, coach

Maxwell Konadu Maxwell Konadu (born 4 December 1972) is a Manager (association football), football coach and a retired Ghana national football team, Ghana international Association football, football player. He was the head coach of the Asante Kotoko F.C., As ...

invited Saka to be included in the Ghana 30-man team for the

2013 WAFU Nations Cup The 2013 WAFU Nations Cup (known as the Go!TV WAFU Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an international home-based football competition. It was hosted in Ghana. The competition was organised by the West African Football Union (WAFU). It was originall ...

. Saka helped the Ghana national football team to a first-place finish after Ghana beat

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

, 3–1. Saka was included in the

for the

2014 African Nations Championship The 2014 African Nations Championship was the third African Nations Championship association football, football tournament. The 16 national teams featured players from the respective national championships. The tournament took place between 11 Ja ...

that finished runner-up.

Honours

Aduana Stars *

: 2009–10,

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Ghana *

Winner:

Runner-up:

Individual *

Most Promising Player: 2009

References

External links

* * * *Bediaku, George-Patrick 10 December 201
Interview with Örebro’s Sam Mensah: "My journey has been long"
retrieved 15 July 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saka, Godfred 1988 births Living people Men's association football fullbacks Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana Premier League players Ghana men's A' international footballers 2014 African Nations Championship players Aduana Stars F.C. players Ghana men's international footballers Right to Dream Academy players Karela United FC players Accra Great Olympics F.C. players 2011 African Nations Championship players Place of birth missing (living people)