Patrick Kwame Ampadu (born 20 December 1970) is an Irish former footballer who played as a midfielder. Ampadu featured for clubs

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

, Leyton Orient and Exeter City in his playing career. He is currently an assistant coach for Columbus Crew under

Wilfried Nancy Wilfried Nancy (born 9 April 1977) is a French soccer manager who is the current manager of the Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew, being announced as the head coach on December 6, 2022. He was formerly a professional footballer, and played ...

. He previously was an assistant coach for Monaco. Ampadu also played for the Republic of Ireland's U21 team.

Early life

Ampadu was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, West Yorkshire, England, to an Irish mother and Ghanaian father. Ampadu subsequently moved with his parents to Dublin, Ireland, where he was raised. He undertook his primary and secondary education at O'Connell's School in Dublin where his schoolmates included future footballer

Jeff Kenna Jeffrey Jude Kenna (born 27 August 1970) is an Irish football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1989 until 2009, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City. He was ...

. At a young age he took up the sport of

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

but thereafter found himself to be quite proficient at football as well.

Playing career

Ampadu first played in Irish youth football for Sherrard United and Belvedere before joining

in July 1988. His debut came in a 3–1 win away to Derby County on 24 March 1990. He went on to have loan spells at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and West Bromwich Albion the following season, before making a permanent move to the latter in June 1991. Ampadu spent three years at West Bromwich Albion before moving to

in February 1994. He played in Swansea City's 1994 Football League Trophy win at Wembley. He also reached the

1997 Football League Third Division play-off Final The 1997 Football League Third Division play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 24 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Northampton Town and Swansea City to determine the fourth and final team to gain pr ...

with the Swans. He moved to Leyton Orient in May 1998 making 72 League appearances in two seasons but missing the Third Division play-offs in 1998–99 through injury. He then had a spell at Exeter City where he scored twice against Swindon Town in the League Cup and Dagenham & Redbridge in the league. In January 2005 he played in Exeter's memorable 0–0 draw at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in the FA Cup. Ampadu then had stints with Newport County and Tiverton Town where his playing days eventually came to an end in 2006.

Managerial career

Ampadu returned to Exeter to be a part of the club's coaching outfit. He took up the role in July 2008 within the club's academy, to be at the helm of the Grecians Under 18 side. He moved to Arsenal in 2012 to become the Under 14s coach at the London side's Hale End Academy.

Personal life

Ampadu's son

Ethan Ethan may refer to: People *Ethan (given name) Places *Ethan, South Dakota *Fort Ethan Allen (Arlington, Virginia) Fiction *''Ethan of Athos'', 1986 novel by Lois McMaster Bujold *"Ethan Brand", 1850 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne *''Ethan ...

is a footballer who plays for Chelsea and Wales. The younger Ampadu, at the age of 15 years and 10 months, made his debut for Exeter City in a League Cup tie against Brentford on 9 August 2016, breaking an 87-year-old record set by Cliff Bastin.

Honours

Player

;Swansea City * Football League Trophy: 1993–94 * Football League Third Division play-offs runner-up:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Managerial

;Arsenal *

U18 Premier League The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performance ...

: Runner-up 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ampadu, Kwame 1970 births Living people Irish people of Ghanaian descent Irish sportspeople of African descent Black Irish sportspeople Footballers from Bradford Republic of Ireland association footballers Association football midfielders Belvedere F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Tiverton Town F.C. players English Football League players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Association football coaches Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff AS Monaco FC non-playing staff CF Montréal non-playing staff Irish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Irish expatriate sportspeople in Canada