Kolja Afriyie (born 6 April 1982) is a German former 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 played 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 ...

. He holds both a

Ghanaian passport Ghanaian passports are issued exclusively by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to Ghanaians granted citizenship in accordance with the Ghanaian nationality law. There are three types of passport booklets contemporary (reg ...

and a

German passport German passport (, ) are issued to nationals(for example, G01E) of Germany for the purpose of international travel. A German passport is, besides the German ID card and the German Emergency Travel Document (called " Reiseausweis als Passersatz" ...

Club career

Kolja Afriyie was born the son of a Ghanaian father and a German mother in Flensburg. He grew up in Flensburg and also visited in Flensburg both a kindergarten and a school that is part of the Danish minority. Playing football, he joined the DGF Flensborg, which also belongs to the Danish minority. In 1998, he joined the youth academy of

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

, but the contract was canceled again in 2000 because "of performance reasons" and because of school problems. In 2001, he moved to Denmark, signing a contract with AC Horsens. In Horsens, he was initially part of the reserve team, but he quickly rose in the first team and was a top performer. In the summer of 2004, Afriyie moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

. His greatest games in his Esbjerg career were

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

matches against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. In 2006, he moved to Superliga rivals

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

Herning Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022)FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in ...

. Only a year later, he broke up his contract and left the club. A short time later, he returned to FC Midtjylland. In May 2014, Afriyie retired his career at the age of 32 years.

International career

Afriyie had played for the Schleswig-Holstein-selection and was discovered by

Jürgen Kohler Jürgen Kohler (born 6 October 1965) is a World Cup-winning German footballer and manager, who played as a centre-back. Since 2018, he has been in charge of the youth team of Viktoria Köln. Playing career Kohler enjoyed a lengthy career at the ...

in the framework of the country Tournament of 2002. On 12 August 2002, Afriyie was first invited by Kohler for the Germany U21 national team when he was nominated for the friendly against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the m ...

. On 20 August 2002, he appeared as a substitute in this game 88 minutes for

Andreas Hinkel Andreas Hinkel (born 26 March 1982) is a German football coach and a former player. Hinkel played as a right-back and earned 21 caps for the Germany national team. He was known for his attacking play on the flanks and defensive solidity. He sta ...

Personal life

His father comes from Ghana, his mother is German, he is the brother of

Kwaku Afriyie Kwaku Afriyie is a Ghanaian politician, farmer and a member of the New Patriotic Party in Ghana. He was the Western Regional minister of Ghana from 2017 to 2018. He was appointed by President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo in January 2017 and ...

References

External links

*
Official Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Flensburg German sportspeople of Ghanaian descent Men's association football defenders German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Hamburger SV II players AC Horsens players Esbjerg fB players FC Midtjylland players FC Energie Cottbus players Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Danish Superliga players 2. Bundesliga players German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Footballers from Schleswig-Holstein {{Germany-footy-defender-1980s-stub