Ibrahim Sunday (born 22 July 1944) is a Ghanaian former professional football player and coach. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he played the majority of his career for Ghanaian club Asante Kotoko, and was also a member of the Ghana national team, participating in two Africa Nations Cup tournaments. In 1971, he won the

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

award. He is the first ever African footballer to appear in the Bundesliga.

Club career

Born in

Koforidua Koforidua, also popularly known as K-dua or Kofcity, is a city and the capital of Eastern Region in southern Ghana. Koforidua was founded in 1875 by migrants from Ashanti. It is also called New Juaben. The city has a settlement city proper pop ...

, Eastern Region, Ghana, Sunday started his career playing for local club

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

Asante Kotoko, of which he became the captain. In 1970, he and his club won the African Cup of Champions, predecessor of the CAF Champions League, the first international title obtained by the club. In 1975, Sunday moved to

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, where in two seasons he barely had any playing time, appearing in only one league match against Rot-Weiß Essen on 6 June 1976. This, however, made him the first ever African footballer to appear in the Bundesliga.

International career

Sunday was first named to the Ghana national team in 1966, and his first official international tournament was the

1968 African Cup of Nations The 1968 African Cup of Nations was the sixth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The field expanded to eight teams, split into two groups of four; the top two teams in each gr ...

, where he scored a goal against

Laurent Pokou Laurent N'Dri Pokou (10 August 1947 – 13 November 2016) was an Ivorian footballer who played as a striker. He notably played for French club Stade Rennais F.C. International career Pokou was a member of the Ivorian national team, who was tw ...

's Ivory Coast in the semifinal as Ghana won 4–3. The ''Black Stars'' lost the final to DR Congo. At the 1970 Nations Cup, there was a rematch of the semifinal from two years before, Ghana again defeated the Ivorians winning 2–1, with Sunday scoring the opening goal. However, they lost in the final again, that time to hosts Sudan. The 1970 final was Sunday's last Nations Cup match, as Ghana failed to qualify for the 1972, 1974, and 1976 continental tournaments. Ghana then qualified for the 1972 Olympic tournament in Munich, and Sunday was part of the Olympic squad.

Coaching career

As a coach, Sunday managed his former club Asante Kotoko, leading them to their second African Cup of Champions victory in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. He also managed Abuakwa Susubiribi and Ashanti Goldfieds of Ghana,

FC 105 Libreville Football Canon 105 de Libreville or simply FC 105 Libreville is a Gabonese football club based in Libreville. It was founded in 1975 as is the club of the army and the police. They play at the Stade Omar Bongo. Achievements *Gabon Championnat Na ...

of Gabon and Ivorian club

Africa Sports Africa Sports d'Abidjan is an Ivorian multi-sports club founded in 1947 and based in Abidjan. The club fields teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball and association football, of these the football team is the most promine ...

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, whom he also led to the continental title in 1992.

Honours

Player

Asante Kotoko *

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 ...

: 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975 * African Cup of Champions Clubs:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Ghana * African Cup of Nations runner up:

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

Individual *

: 1971

Manager

Asante Kotoko * African Cup of Champions Clubs:

Africa Sports d'Abidjan * WAFU Club Championship:

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

* African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1992 * CAF Super Cup: 1993 Individual * CAF Legends award: 2017

References

External links

Picture of Ibrahim Sunday in Werder Bremen shirt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday, Ibrahim 1950 births Living people People from Koforidua Ghanaian footballers Association football midfielders Ghana international footballers African Footballer of the Year winners Bundesliga players Asante Kotoko S.C. players SV Werder Bremen players VSK Osterholz-Scharmbeck players Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Ghana 1968 African Cup of Nations players 1970 African Cup of Nations players Ghanaian football managers Ghanaian expatriate footballers Ghanaian expatriate football managers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany