Gershon Koffie (born August 25, 1991) 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 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 ...

for the Israeli club Ironi Tiberias.

Career

Youth

Koffie grew up in the Ghanaian capital

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, , ...

, and began his soccer career when he joined Rot-Weiss Accra - a development club affiliated with German club

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 195 ...

- as a nine-year-old in 2000. He spent five years with Rot-Weiss Accra, before signing his first professional contract in 2006 with Ghanaian Division Two League team International Allies at the age of 15.

Professional

Koffie played four full seasons with International Allies, scoring 28 goals in all competitions, before leaving the club in 2009 to try to secure a spot with a professional team in Europe. The Swedish side

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

was at a scouting trip in Ghana when Koffie broke his leg. Hammarby helped him with the operation and the rehabilitation in Sweden. Later on he trained with the Danish club

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Tom Soehn Tom Soehn (born April 15, 1966) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach of USL Championship club Birmingham Legion. A former player, his career as a defender spanned seven clubs across 12 seasons, both indoors and outdoors. Playing ca ...

at a tournament in Ghana six months previously, Koffie relocated to Canada in 2010, and subsequently signed with the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

of the

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding Un ...

. He made his Whitecaps debut on September 5, 2010, in a 0–0 tie with the

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

. On February 9, 2011, he signed a new contract for the

2011 Major League Soccer season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

with

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on August 7, 2011, in a 4–2 win over Chicago Fire. He would later establish himself as a key player for Whitecaps FC, making a total of 133 appearances, and scoring on 9 occasions. Before the

2016 MLS season The 2016 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season began on March 6 and ended on October 23. The playoffs began on October 26 and ended on December 10. The defendin ...

Koffie was traded to

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. The deal was confirmed on February 11, 2016, with Whitecaps FC getting general allocation money and targeted allocation money in exchange for the player. Vancouver were also to receive a percentage of any future transfer fee obtained by New England. Koffie would later move on to make 22 competitive league games for New England during the season. His stint at the club was plagued by injuries, but Koffie performed like a club

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

when healthy, covering acres of space in the middle of the park while constantly bullying attackers. On January 15, 2017, he moved to Europe for the first time in his career, signing a three year-deal with

in the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, the club he had rehabilitated with in 2009. He made his first and ultimately only appearance in Allsvenskan on 9 April, in a 1–1 home draw against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the clu ...

. After failing to impress manager

Jakob Michelsen Jakob Saldern Stein Michelsen (born 30 September 1980) is a Danish football manager. He is currently the manager of Norwegian Eliteserien club HamKam. Jakob Michelsen was selected coach of the year in Denmark in 2015. He was the coach behind the ...

, Koffie was deemed surplus to requirements and got sent on a one year-loan to his former club

in May 2017. After playing 23 games with New England during the season, he returned to Hammarby before the start of the 2018 season. He made one appearance during the first half of the season, before leaving on a free transfer on 1 June 2018. Koffie and Hammarby cancelled the contract by mutual consent. On 10 June 2022 signed to the

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

club Ironi Tiberias.

International

Koffie was called up to the

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 ...

U-20 national team for the first time in July 2010. He was named in Ghana's team for the

2011 African Youth Championship The 2011 African Youth Championship was a football tournament for the Under-20 level national teams in Africa. It was due to be held in Libya from 18 March to 1 April. Following political unrest in the region, CAF decided to postpone the tourna ...

, starting against The Gambia on April 21, 2011. He was substituted after an hour for James Bissue. He made a substitute appearance against Cameroon on April 24, 2011, replacing

Paul Aidoo Paul Aidoo (born 30 November 1991) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

in the 67th minute. Ghana were eliminated from the competition at the group stage finishing in third position behind Cameroon and Nigeria.

Personal

Koffie received his Canadian Permanent Residency in 2013, which qualifies him as a domestic player on Canadian clubs for MLS roster purposes. Koffie is married to Souadou Drame former Model and Miss Guinee North America 2013.

Honours

Club

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koffie, Gershon 1991 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players New England Revolution players Hammarby Fotboll players Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. players Indy Eleven players Sandecja Nowy Sącz players Ironi Tiberias F.C. players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Major League Soccer players Allsvenskan players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players I liga players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Poland