Nii Odartey Lamptey (born 10 December 1974) is a Ghanaian 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 ...

and current manager of Elmina Sharks as well as the proprietor of a school in

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, , ...

called Glow-Lamp International School. During his career he played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

from 1990 until 2008 notably for Anderlecht, for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, PSV Eindhoven,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and the

Ghana national football 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 ...

. He is known foremost for his erratic career, in which he became a superstar as a teenager and then suffered a long string of failures which burnt him out well before his time. Lamptey has been used as a byword for a cautionary tale of putting too much pressure on young players to be successful. He also played for

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

, Venezia,

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, Unión Santa Fe, Ankaragücü,

União Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

, Greuther Fürth, Shandong Luneng,

Al-Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yello ...

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

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

Early years

Nii Lamptey was born in Tema, but grew up in the two biggest Ghanaian cities,

and Kumasi. He had a miserable childhood, as his parents abused and neglected him. His father was an alcoholic who often beat and lashed him and sometimes burnt his body with cigarettes. Lamptey often refused to spend the nights home and frequently skipped school, only finding refuge in football. Soon, he began to excel in this sport, despite his father heckling him and hurling verbal abuse from the sidelines whenever he watched his son play football. When Lamptey was eight, his parents divorced, and his stepfather threw him out of the household. Lamptey found refuge in a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

football camp and converted from Christianity 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 ...

to qualify for entry. When his stepfather found this out, he accused his stepson of sacrilege and often quarreled in front of the football camp.

Club career

Anderlecht

Lamptey played for the youth team Young Corners in

, but wanted to move abroad to play. However, the Ghanaian FA refused and confiscated his passport, wishing to build a team around him in Ghana. He therefore was smuggled into Nigeria by a taxi driver, where he met Nigerian captain Stephen Keshi, who had heard of his skills. Keshi persuaded Lamptey to play in Belgium with him, and took Lamptey with him, giving him a fake Nigerian passport that stated Lamptey was his son. He was hailed as the new

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

and age limit rules in Belgium were changed to allow him to debut at the age of 16 for Anderlecht. His first season was a success, scoring 7 goals in 14 games.

PSV Eindhoven

He was loaned to Eindhoven, and quickly established himself as a prolific scorer, and continued to impress, scoring 10 times in 22 games.

Aston Villa

Ron Atkinson brought Lamptey to

in the summer of 1994. This move came as a surprise, as PSV was a more successful club than Aston Villa at the time and Lamptey was one of the star players at PSV. However, Lamptey had signed an exclusive marketing contract with an Italian player agent. The player's agent, Antonio Caliendo, would get 25% of whatever Lamptey's transfer fee was, and accordingly sold him to Villa as that would mean the largest commission for himself. Lamptey's illiteracy allowed Caliendo to take advantage of him, even pocketing a signing on bonus intended for Lamptey. He failed to impress at Villa Park, scoring just three times, all of which came in the League Cup against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

(once in the home leg and twice in the away leg).

Coventry City

Following Atkinson's dismissal as Villa boss, he re-signed Lamptey for his new club

. Again Lamptey would score his only goals in the League Cup, netting twice against Hull City (once in the home leg and once in the away leg). However, despite his failure at Coventry, his name was not forgotten. From the start of the 2012–13 season, a group of Coventry City fans launched a podcast entitled The Nii Lamptey Show in honour of their former player.

Later career

Lamptey joined Venezia in Italy. Later, he was signed by

and went on loan at that same year at Unión de Santa Fe in Argentina. There, he and his wife had their third child, Diego. But soon, Diego died of a rare disease. A major emotional blow was also the fact that Lamptey wanted to bury his son in Ghana, but the authorities declined. Heartbroken, Lamptey temporarily gave up football. After unsuccessful stints at Ankaragücü and

, Lamptey got himself a new German player agent who transferred him to SpVgg Greuther Fürth. However, Lamptey and his wife were unhappy there, unable to live through the culture shock in Germany. Lamptey was not entirely unsuccessful, being a reliable backup, but was found too fragile for the rough

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. He was also reportedly ignored by his German colleagues, and once, a colleague flat-out refused to sleep in the same hotel room as him. This blatant racism shocked Lamptey, but even worse was the fact that his child Lisa also died soon after birth. Also Lamptey's second dead child was buried abroad, in Germany. The Lampteys soon left for Asia. Lamptey then joined Shandong Luneng Tai Shan in China. On 5 March 2007, Lamptey signed for South African side

International career

Youth

1991 U-17 World Cup

Lamptey first began to attract global attention in 1991. He led Ghana to win the

1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the fourth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Florence, Montecatini Terme, Viareggio, Massa, Carrara, and Livorno in Italy between 16 August and 31 August 1991. Players born after 1 August 1 ...

with the team known as the ''Black Starlets'' after playing in the 1989 version as a 15-year-old. He won the FIFA Best Player of the tournament – the

Golden Ball Golden Ball may refer to: Awards * Golden Ball Award, FIFA competition award for best player of tournament ** FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup award for best player of tournament ** FIFA U-20 World Cup#A ...

award in a competition that also included Argentina's

Juan Sebastian Verón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

and

Marcelo Gallardo Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (; born 18 January 1976) is an Argentine football coach and former professional player who last managed River Plate. Gallardo began his career in the club's youth divisions, and made his debut in the Argentine Primera D ...

and Italy's

Alessandro del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit fo ...

, Lamptey's star shone more brilliantly than them all, as he dominated everyone in the competition. He was subsequently touted as the next

; by Pelé himself. He scored four goals in that tournament. Lamptey later stated that although appreciated, Pelé's praise made life far harder for him, since everyone therefore had extremely high expectations of him that he was not always able to fulfill. The adidas

could only go to one of the members of the victorious Ghanaian side, and so it was, with Lamptey taking home a very special souvenir from his Italian sojourn. Lamptey was the beating heart of a very good side. His fast feet, speed of thought, and clever interplay with captain Alex Opoku and fellow midfielders

Mohammed Gargo Mohammed Gargo (born 19 June 1975) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Playing career Club Torino Gargo's performances at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship brought him to the notice of European clubs' sc ...

and

Emmanuel Duah Emmanuel Duah (born 14 November 1976) is a Ghanaian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. Club career Duah was born in Kumasi, Ghana. After his exploits at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Champ ...

were on display for all to see. His willingness to get into the box was critical too, and his four goals made him joint top-goalscorer. In recognition of his exquisite football he displayed at the FIFA U-17 Tournament, he was named the 1991 fifth best African Footballer of the Year.

1993 U-20 World Cup

Lamptey's brilliance led an enterprising and unpredictable Ghana's U-20 team, known as the "Black Satellites" to win the 1993 African U-20 Cup of Nations and then lost the final of the

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place ac ...

held in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to Brazil, who came from a goal down to win the trophy at the death, 2–1. He also scored in the match.

Summer Olympics

In the Summer of 1992, young superstar Nii Lamptey led Ghana to win a

Bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the Barcelona

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

football tournament. Ghana, who had the youngest team by far in the competition (the average age of the squad was 18.8 years), were surprise

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

lists, becoming the first African nation to earn a medal. They did so in a 1–0 victory over yet another surprise,

Senior

His international career with Ghana dried up after he was sent off in the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, s ...

semi-final game.

Retirement

Lamptey retired from football in 2008. He now breeds cattle and sheep on a farm on the outskirts of Accra. He served as a pundit on Ghanaian television during the 2014 World Cup. He also founded Glow-lamp International School , so as to give back to society and ensure than children have the chance to learn to read and write: something he was never able to do. As of 2017, his school has almost 400 pupils. He also has a football academy he coaches at in Elmina. Lamptey has said that despite everything, he does not feel like a loser, but rather as a hardened survivor who refuses to be destroyed, and whom God will not punish.

Personal life

Lamptey married Gloria Appiah in 1993. The marriage was a controversial one, angering his brothers, as Appiah is from a different tribe (Fante) to his (Ga). He had five children, of whom two died to lung diseases. However, a DNA test revealed he was not the biological father of the remaining three children and he divorced her. Appiah filed for an appeal in court, requesting 50% of his assets in the divorce including occupancy at the couple's East Legon apartment, but was refused by the judge. As of 2016, Lamptey is engaged to actress and model Ruweida Yakuba with whom he has two children. He has had a feud with Ghanaian star Abedi Pele, but refuses to disclose the reason.

Coaching career

On 19 February 2009 signed a contract as Assistant at

Sekondi Wise Fighters Sekondi Eleven Wise Football Club is a Ghanaian professional association football club, based in Sekondi Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropo ...

; here he assisted the new Head Coach Charles Akonnor. He also owns a football academy in Elmina that he coaches at.

Honours

Anderlecht * Belgian First Division: 1990–91, 1992–93 Asante Kotoko * Ghana Premier League: 2005 Ghana U-17 *

FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

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 Phil ...

Ghana U-20 * African U-20 Cup of Nations:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

* FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up:

Ghana U-23 *

: Bronze medal

References

*''Der afrikanische Pelé'' (the African Pelé), documentary by the German TV station WDR, on 14 April 2006

External links