Raphael Ohin (born 25 May 1995) is a Ghanaian 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 plays for Canadian Premier League club

Valour FC Valour Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home matches at IG Field. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned thro ...

as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early life

Ohin is a native of Accra, Ghana. From 2008 to 2010, he played for an academy team in his native Ghana. When he was 15, he attracted the attention of a scout for Swiss club

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

and was invited to a week-long trial with the club. He impressed the club and was working on signing a professional academy contract, but ultimately was unable to. Afterwards, he had a trial with German side

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, but again after impressing during his trial was unable to sign with the club. Afterwards, he went to trial with a club in Thailand, who kept him for four months, but were not willing to pay him the desired amount his agent was asking for and he returned to Ghana. He then trialled with Swedish club

Bodens BK Bodens BK is a Swedish football club located in Boden in Norrbotten. The club was formed on 2 November 1916 and began playing soccer in 1918. It is currently playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football, Division 2. Linguistics Note tha ...

, but did not sign a contract. In 2015, he went to Canada, after initially planning to join

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

club K-W United, he never ended up trialling with the club, instead heading to Vancouver to trial with Whitecaps FC 2, but did not earn a contract and returned to Ghana. In 2016, he moved to Winnipeg, Canada, to live with his aunt.

Club career

From 2016 to 2018, Ohin played with

WSA Winnipeg FC Manitoba is a Canadian soccer team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the United States soccer league system. The club was founded in 2010 as WSA Winnipeg. In 2020, the club was acquired by a n ...

in the

. Initially, he was restricted to playing home games only (as well as road games against the

Thunder Bay Chill Thunder Bay Chill Soccer Club is a Canadian soccer team based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2000, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Chapples Park S ...

, the only other Canadian team in the division), as he had been unable to secure a visa to be able to travel to the United States, where the majority of the clubs were located. In January 2019, Ohin signed his first professional contract, joining Canadian Premier League club

on a multi-year contract. He made his debut on May 11, 2019, in a substitute appearance against

HFX Wanderers FC HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of t ...

. In October 2020, he re-signed with the club for the 2021 season. On July 3, 2021, he scored his first goal for the club against Atlético Ottawa. He was ranked #34 in the league's top 50 players in 2021. In December 2021, he again re-signed with the club for another season. In March 2022, on the first day of pre-season training camp, Ohin suffered an ACL injury, which caused him to miss the entire 2022 season. In December 2022, he re-signed with the club for the 2023 season.

Personal

Due to his playing style, he has been nicknamed "The Rhino". Ohin is a practicing Christian and credits his faith for his success. In March 2021, he obtained his Canadian permanent residency. Since arriving in Winnipeg, he has collected soccer equipment to distribute to the youth back in his native Ghana. He served as a youth soccer coach with

and the St. Charles Soccer Association, before signing a professional contract with Valour in January 2019.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohin, Raphael Living people 1995 births Men's association football midfielders Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Canada FC Manitoba players Valour FC players USL League Two players Canadian Premier League players Footballers from Accra