Ransford Osei (born 5 December 1990) 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 ...

, who 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 ...

for Lithuanian club

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

Club career

Early career

Osei began his career at his homeland club Kessben FC now

Medeama Sporting Club Medeama Sporting Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Tarkwa, Western Region. The club currently competes in the Ghana Premier League. The club was formerly known as Kessben F.C. before changing its name to Medeama Sporting C ...

, On 28 February 2008, he was set to join Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

on a six-month loan contract which gave the Polish club the option to buy the player during that time. Due to a work permit issue, the transfer was blocked by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Osei stayed in Kessben.

Maccabi Haifa

In 2008, he joined Israel-based side Maccabi Haifa on loan. He subsequently signed a three-year contract of employment.

Twente

In July 2009, Osei joined Dutch side

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

on a year-long loan deal.

Granada

In August 2010, Granada CF announced that they had signed Osei on loan, and that he would join up with their second team Granada B.

Bloemfontein Celtic

After a short trial period, South African club

Bloemfontein Celtic Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (simply known as Celtic) is a South African amateur football club based in Bloemfontein that competes in the ABC Motsepe League, the third tier of the South African football league system. Bloemfontein Celtic has ...

gave Ransford Osei a six-month contract in January 2012.

Asante Kotoko

In July 2012, Osei signed for 22-time champions of Ghana, and two times champions of Africa,

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 ...

. In September 2013, he turned down a contract renewal by Asante Kotoko, before being left out of Asante Kotoko's

2014 CAF Champions League The 2014 CAF Champions League (also known as the 2014 Orange CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 50th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 18th edi ...

's squad in the December. He won the

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

on two occasions whilst playing for the

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

-based club.

Polokwane City

In January 2015, Osei signed for South African

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

side

Polokwane City Polokwane City Football Club is a South African professional football club based in the city of Polokwane in the Limpopo province that currently plays in the second tier National First Division. The team currently plays its home matches at the P ...

on a three-year contract. After managing just three substitute appearances due to injury, he was released by Polokwane City prior to the start of the 2015–16 season.

RoPS

After going on trial with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Shakhter Karagandy at the beginning of February, Osei played for RoPS in their Finnish League Cup match against

PS Kemi Kings The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish football team based in the town of Kemi, who are currently playing in the Kolmonen. The club have spent three seasons in the top flight in their history. History The club was established on October 21, 1999 ...

on 16 February. Five days later, 21 February, Osei signed a two-year contract with RoPS. He was later loaned to

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

International career

2007 African Under-17 Championship

He featured for Ghana at the U-17 level in 2007. He played a key role in the Black Starlets' journey to placing 3rd at the

2007 African U-17 Championship The 2007 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Togo. For the first time, the top four teams qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIF ...

. At the end of the tournament he was award Silver Boot for scoring the 2nd highest number of goals.

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup

On 20 August, he found the net twice in the 12 and 44th minute against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in Ghana's 4–1 win during their first group game. Osei went on to score two more goals against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, to take Ghana into the last sixteen of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, where they met and defeated favorites

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

despite playing the entire second half with only ten men On 1 September, Osei set up the first goal and scored the second as the Ghanaians beat

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

2–0 to take them into the U-17 semi-final match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Osei finished the U-17 World Cup with the

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Silver Shoe as the competitions second highest goalscorer, coming second by one goal to Macauley Chrisantus of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He scored his sixth and final goal of the Tournament came in the third place play-off in the tournament as Ghana lost 2–1 to

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Osei scored in his first game against Uzbekistan in the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confedera ...

one goal and played 90

minute The minute is a unit of time usually equal to (the first sexagesimal fraction) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a nega ...

s. He scored also another goal in his second game against England national under-20 football team and played 85 minutes.

Senior internationals

On 13 November 2007, three weeks before his 17th birthday, he received his first senior International call-up from

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 ...

coach

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

for a FIFA International friendly match against

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

at the

Ohene Djan Stadium The Accra Sports Stadium, formerly named the Ohene Djan Stadium, is a multi-use stadium (40,000-capacity, all-seater) located in Accra. Ghana, mostly used for association football matches. It is also used for rugby union. Overview The stadium was ...

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, , ...

, on 18 November 2007 after scoring a superb hat-trick against

's U17 team in a Junior International friendly at the same venue on Sunday 11 November 2007. He was selected among the nations

2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange (telecommunications), Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial association football, football championship of Africa (Confederat ...

squad even though he didn't appear in any of the matches.

won silver in that tournament.

Style of play

A Striker described by FIFA.com as "an opportunistic goal machine" with superb pace and movement, young free-scoring sensation Osei was recognized by World Soccer Magazine as one of the ''50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet'' in their November 2007 Issue. When it comes to designing the perfect striker, he has one particular model in mind. " I'd love to have Patrick Kluivert's heading ability, the speed and ball control of Samuel Eto'o and the finishing skills of

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players ...

. I've got a few videos of him that I watch very closely". "Whenever I miss chances I can't sleep at night," Osei, the adidas Silver Shoe winner at the

2007 U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

, tells FIFA.com. " I go through them over and over again in my mind, replaying them until I find the exact movement I should have made out on the pitch. When I'm sure I've learned my lesson I relax a little bit, but even then I know I'm not going to sleep that well."

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Maccabi Haifa * Israeli Premier League: 2008–09 Asante Kotoko *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14 * Ghana Super Cup:

Ghana U-20 * FIFA U-20 World Cup:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

African Youth Championship The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African Youth Championship or the African U-20 Championship) is the main international youth football competition ...

Individual *

2009 African Youth Championship The 2009 African Youth Championship is a football tournament for under 20 players. It was held in Rwanda from 18 January until 1 February 2009. It also served as qualification for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Qualification Preliminary round ...

– (Golden Boot) * 2007

African Under-17 Championship The U-17 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African U-17 Championship) is a bi-annual football competition organised by the sport's African governing body, CA ...

– (Golden Boot) *

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

– (Silver Boot)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osei, Ransford 1990 births Living people Ghanaian footballers Ghana under-20 international footballers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Association football forwards S.C. Adelaide players Medeama SC players Berekum Chelsea F.C. players Club Recreativo Granada players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players FC Twente players Bloemfontein Celtic F.C. players Asante Kotoko S.C. players Ghana Premier League players Ghanaian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Footballers from Kumasi FC Santa Claus players Ghana international footballers