Rashid Sumaila (born 18 December 1992) is a

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 ...

ian 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 ...

who plays as a centre-back and he is also a member of the Ghana national team. Sumaila won the '' 2011 Ghana Best Defender Award'' at the end of the 2010–11 Glo Premier League season.

Clubs career

Astronomers to Venomous Vipers and Ebusua Dwarfs

Born in Cape Coast, Rashid Sumaila, affectionately known as Rash, began his playing career in the junior ranks of Cape Coast Adisadel-based Colts team named Astronomers where he excelled with performance and won almost everyone's hearts at the club. In the year 2008, a division 1 club Venomous Vipers who were monitoring him keenly had to approach management of Astronomers for his signature where he was their prime target for the 2008–2009 Division 1 season. Playing with tenacity and zeal Sumaila was then tipped as the next Sergio Ramos of Ghana football due to his consistency in the central defensive role. The praises and hails he had with the then division on club broke the news of his performances where

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 ...

Clubs were knocking heads to grab the young talented defender. Prior to his abysmal performances

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Ebusua Dwarfs Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Cape Coast. The club competes in the Ghana Premier League, the Premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid, and hold home games at Cape Coast Sports St ...

signed him for the 2009–10 season where he progressed through the ranks at Ebusua Dwarfs and made his senior debut in the 2010–11 Glo Premier League season.

Asante Kotoko

The porcupine worries in 2012 were very full of joy when they signed their best man Sumaila from

who they were eyeing season ago to strengthen their central defense. As versatile as he was he played an integral part of

Asante Kotoko S.C. 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 ...

2012–13 season where he helped them to win the

. Notable for his tackles and strength in defense Sumaila's name was on everyone's lips of

fans as he was referred as "We got our man" simply meaning they have fixed the defense now. French club

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), co ...

took an interest in young powerful centre-back after his first Ghana national football team call-up on 15 November 2011.

Mamelodi Sundowns

Rashid arrived for the Masandawana boys from

for a permanent deal where he had already won the

with the Porcupine worries. His arrival saw a massive turn around at

Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional Association football, football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of So ...

, he was very influential in the defence and played almost every match of the season where he helped them win the 2013–14

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 ...

(PSL) with them. Asante Kotoko (loan) Sumaila returned to Kotoko on a loan deal the following season from

but unfortunately the

was hit with setbacks and was on hold so he returned to the

Qadsia Sc

The Kuwaiti side Qadsia had earlier approached

for a loan fee of Sumaila where initially he had returned from Kototo as the

was not in progress so he landed up in Kuwait to sign a loan deal with

Qadsia SC ) The Royal ( ar, الملكي) The Yellow Castle ( ar, القلعة الصفراء) , founded = as ''Al-Jazira'' , ground = Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium Hawalli , capacity = 26,000 , chairman = Khaled Fahad Al Sabah , manager = Boris ...

with an option to buy. He did offer his best to the Yellow Castles as they are called and helped them win the

Kuwait Emir Cup The Kuwait Amir/Emir Cup ( ar, كأس أمير الكويت) is a Kuwaiti football competition created in 1962. The Emir Cup, is the last football competition held in the Kuwaiti football season. It is considered the most valuable cup. Al Arabi ...

for the 2014–15 season and by his hard works and dedication, he individually received the best Foreign Player in the

Kuwait Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...

and Best Player of

respectively. As the 2015-2016 Season began Rashid Sumaila had already put pen to paper for an undisclosed fee and had established himself the preferred central defender in the team. The season was getting better and better for Sumaila as the winning kept on coming which saw them be the favourite for the League title, their efforts and cohesive play did not end up in vain and was one that got their hands for the trophy, they announced the

champions for the 2015–16 season.

Al Gharafa

Sumaila was a hot cake in the Middle East where clubs where chasing here and there so Al-Gharafa SC was fortunate enough to get a loan deal of him from their sister country Kuwait side

. What Sumaila brought there was passion and composure to the team, He was the deal and was ready to bring the team back on track so the 2016–17 season saw him outstanding in yellow and blue shirt no wonder he was voted club best player at the end of the season. Plans were, however, in advance to get him a permanent deal but

would not turn their attention either as they needed him back to complete his missions so Sumaila returned to his mother club to start the 2017–18

season with the yellow castles.

Return to Qadsia Sc

Sumaila returned to his mother club

to begin the 2017–2018 Kuwait Premier League as an enforcer to the team. The season was going to be a good one the Yellow Castle where Sumaila produced one of his best season performances from defending to scoring some important few goals to push the team forward. Sumaila was yet fortunate again to win the 2017–2018 Kuwait Crown Prince Cup beating their neighbors and rivals

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الكويت الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. The football team has won Kuwaiti Premier League 17 times. Kuwait SC also has over 50 trophies in Kuwaiti Club foot ...

in the final.

Red Star Belgrade

The quest for European football has always been the dream for Sumaila and a couple of them were knocking at his doors knowing the performances he had put in the seasons so far. On 28 June 2018 Sumaila joined the Serbian club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

on one-year loan deal.

International career

Youth

Sumaila was part of the Ghana national under-20 football team at 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 ...

. Sumaila was a member of the Ghana national under-23 football team that won Ghana's first All-Africa Games football gold medal in the

Football at the 2011 All-Africa Games The 2011 All-Africa Games football tournament was held in Maputo, Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeaster ...

when they defeated

South Africa national under-23 soccer team The South Africa national under-23 football team is a youth association football, football (soccer) team, which represents South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association, the governing body for football in South Africa. Th ...

4–2 on

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

at the

Estádio do Zimpeto Estádio do Zimpeto is a multi-use stadium in Zimpeto - an outlying neighborhood of Maputo, Mozambique, which was inaugurated on 23 April 2011.Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,0 ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

on 17 September 2011.

Senior

On 7 November 2011 Sumaila was called up to the

squad to face

Sierra Leone national football team The Sierra Leone national football team represents Sierra Leone in men's international association football and it is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association. The team's nickname is Leone Stars. The team is affiliated to the West Afr ...

and

Gabon national football team The Gabon national football team (French: ''Équipe de football du Gabon'') represents Gabon in men's international football. The team's nickname is The Panthers and it is governed by the Gabonese Football Federation. They have never qualified ...

. In December 2011, Sumaila was named to the Ghana national football team's provisional 25-man squad for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, but was not included by the Ghana national football team technical staff for the tournament's final 23-man squad. Sumaila who was in form at

caught the attention of coach Kwesi Appiah and was called to 2014 FIFA World Cup squad for Ghana as the final 23 squad list was announced. Ghana could not progress from the group stages but were the only team that the

Germany national football team The Germany national football team (german: link=no, Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deuts ...

could not beat in the tournament though they were the champions of the tournament. Ghana held them to a 2–2 draw which was one of the famous matches of the tournament.

Honours

;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 ...

Rashid Sumaila
at National-Football-Teams.com ;Mamelodi Sundowns *

: 2013–14 ;Qadsia SC *

: 2014–2015 *

: 2015–2016 *

Kuwait Crown Prince Cup The Crown Prince Cup ( ar, كأس ولي العهد) is a Kuwaiti domestic annual football competition created in 1994. Previous winners *1994 : Kuwait SC *1995 : Kazma SC *1996 : Al Arabi SC *1997 : Al Arabi SC *1998 : Qadsia SC *1999 : Al Ar ...

: 2017–2018 ;Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

: 2018–19 ;Ghana U23 * All-Africa Games Gold medal: 2011 Individual *

Best Defender: 2010–11 * Ghana Premier League Best Defender: 2012–13 * Ghana MTN FA Cup Best Defender: 2012–2013 * Kuwait Premier League Best Foreign player: 2014–15 * Kuwait Premier League Best Defender: 2015–16 *

Best Player of the season: 2014–15 * Al-Gharafa SC Best Player of the season: 2016–17

References

External links

*
Sumaila keen on impressing with Black Stars
– MTNFootball.co {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumaila, Rashid 1992 births Living people Men's association football central defenders Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs players Ghanaian men's footballers Asante Kotoko S.C. players Ghana Premier League players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Qadsia SC players Al-Gharafa SC players Muaither SC players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Ghana men's international footballers African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games medalists in football People from Cape Coast Qatar Stars League players Qatari Second Division players Red Star Belgrade footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games