Justice Blay (born 5 May 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 plays as a midfielder for Ghana Premier League club

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

and the

Ghana national 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 ...

Club career

Justice started his professional career at

Sekondi Hasaacas F.C. Sekondi Hasaacas FC is a Ghanaian professional association football club based in Sekondi-Takoradi. The club won the Ghana Premier League in 1977 and is currently participating in the Division One League following relegation from the 2015-16 Gh ...

and made his debut in the Ghana Premier League in 2016 when he made a total of 14 appearances for the 1977 Ghana Premier League title winners and scored 1 goal. Following a successful campaign at Hasaacas, Justice who is a defensive midfielder, caught the attention of Medeama who signed him in the following season into their squad. On his debut season for Medeama SC he made a total of 15 league appearances and scored once. In 2019 summer

Asante Kotoko S.C. Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

completed the signing of the midfielder on a season-long loan deal. While at Kotoko featured in the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

and the

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

. He scored a 2 goals in 12 appearances for Kotoko in the cancelled 2019/20 Ghana Premier League season. In 2020 summer he reverted from Kotoko to Medeama after the expiration of his loan contract.

Transfer speculations

Following his return to Medeama several media reports claim Asante Kotoko have harboured plans to Justice permanently from Medeama. Meanwhile, some media reports claim Medeama SC have set a price tag of US$200,000 for interested clubs who want to sign the midfielder. Kotoko's bitterest rivals

Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Hearts of Oak or just Hearts, is a professional sports club based in Accra (Greater Accra), Ghana. Founded in 1911, the club is the oldest surviving football club in Ghana and its trad ...

reportedly entered into the race to sign the midfielder but both Hearts of Oak and Medeama denied the story.

International career

In September 2017 Ghana Black Stars B coach James Kwesi Appiah handed him a late call up ahead of a 2018 African Nations Championship qualifier. In August 2019

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 him to join the Ghana squad ahead of their preparation to face Burkina Faso in an African Nations Championship qualifier. Justice featured prominently for Ghana during the

2019 WAFU Cup of Nations The 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations was the sixth edition of the WAFU Nations Cup, an association football tournament that is affiliated with the West African Football Union (WAFU). It took place from 28 September to 13 October 2019 in Thiès, Senegal. T ...

tournament in Senegal.

Personal life

In 2018 the midfielder reportedly converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

after studying the religion for a while. He was previously a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Honours

Asante Kotoko * Ghana Premier League – 2019 * Play of the Month Award – January 2020 Ghana *

– 2019, runners up medal.

References

External links

* * 1992 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana men's international footballers Sekondi Hasaacas F.C. players Medeama S.C. players Asante Kotoko S.C. players Ghana Premier League players Ghanaian Muslims Converts to Islam from Christianity Footballers from Sekondi-Takoradi Men's association football midfielders {{Ghana-footy-bio-stub