Stanley Opoku Aborah (born 23 June 1987) is a 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 ...

who played as an

attacking 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 ...

. He holds both a Ghanaian passport and a

Belgian passport A Belgian passport is a travel document issued by Belgium to Belgian citizens to facilitate international travel. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requirements and serves as proof of citizenship. Types of pa ...

Club career

Early career

Aborah was born in

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 t ...

, Ghana, and has had Belgian nationality since he was 10 years old. He had spells at

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

, Cappellen,

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

and

Germinal Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

before joining the Ajax youth team in 2001. His father, Stanley Aborah, Snr, a former Ghana international, operated as a defensive midfielder and played at clubs including

Germinal Ekeren Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

(now Germinal Beerschot).

Ajax

As a former Jong Ajax captain, he stepped into the senior

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

squad in 2004–05 and made his debut on 16 October 2004, against

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

. Aborah came on as a substitute in the teams

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

victory against

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

coming on for

Rafael van der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and is currently the assistant manager of Danish 2nd Division club Esbjerg fB. Van der Vaart began his c ...

three days later.

FC Den Bosch (loan)

Ajax loaned him in the 2005–06 season to second division F.C. Den Bosch to gain more experience. Aborah took part in 21 matches with this club and scored three goals.

F.C.V. Dender E.H.

On 3 January 2007, he signed for Belgian Second Division side

FCV Dender EH Football Club Verbroedering Dender Eendracht Hekelgem, also simply known as Dender or Verbroedering Dender, is a Belgian association football club based in Denderleeuw. From the 2022–23 season, the club will be playing in the Challenger Pro Le ...

on a free transfer.

Return to FC Den Bosch

In the summer of 2007, Aborah signed a two-year contract with his former club

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

As Trenčin

In 2010, he left Bosch and joined second division Slovakian team;

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Fortuna Liga after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its home games at th ...

Gillingham

Aborah joined Gillingham of England's

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

on a one-month contract in August 2010, which was subsequently extended to two months. He made his Gillingham debut in a 1–0 defeat away to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

on 18 September 2010, but this proved to be his only appearance for the club, as he was released from his contract on 5 October.

Vitesse

After a spell with Cappellen Aborah joined

Eredivise The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side Vitesse. He made 13 league appearances scoring one goal.

ND Mura 05

Aborah joined ND Mura in 2012 and made 12 league appearances.

Ferencváros

Aborah then joined

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, or simply FTC, is a professional football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Ferencváros ...

after leaving ND Mura.

Notts County

In July 2015, Aborah signed for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

after having a trial with the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

side. He remained with the club until he was released on 31 January 2017.

Portsmouth

Aborah subsequently signed for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

but was released after just 4 appearances, 3 of them as a substitute, in the summer of 2017.

Waterford

In January 2018 Aborah signed for League of Ireland Premier Division side

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. Aborah made his debut in a 2–1 win against Derry City on 17 February 2018.

International career

Aborah has dual Ghanaian and Belgian citizenship. He was a

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

youth (U18) international.

References

External links