Christian Atta Gyan (2 November 1978 – 29 December 2021) was 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, rugb ...

who played as a defender. He was known primarily for his time at Feyenoord where he won the

1998–99 Eredivisie The Dutch Eredivisie in the 1998–99 season was contested by 18 teams. Feyenoord won the championship. League standings Results Promotion/relegation play-offs In the promotion/relegation competition, eight entrants (six from the Eerste Di ...

and the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

Club career

Gyan was born in

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populo ...

, Ghana on 2 November 1978. Playing for Ghapoha, he signed for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after i ...

in 1996. During the following season he moved on loan to Excelsior. After only a couple of months Feyenoord recalled the defender, and he made his debut for Feyenoord that same season. Gyan remained with Feyenoord for the next eight seasons. He was mainly used as a substitute. Gyan did play the

2002 UEFA Cup Final The 2002 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match played on 8 May 2002, between Feyenoord of the Netherlands and Borussia Dortmund of Germany at the Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, Feyenoord's home ground. It was the 31st UEFA Cup final ...

against Borussia Dortmund. He replaced the suspended Brett Emerton in the starting eleven. With Gyan, Feyenoord went on to beat Dortmund 3–2. While at Feyenoord Gyan also won a Dutch League Championship and a

Johan Cruijff Schaal The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national football ...

. Gyan was one of the most popular players at Feyenoord, always gaining a big applause from the fans when he started his warming-up. In June 2008 Gyan completed a successful trial for the Finnish club

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland. During the 2022 season, the men's first team of the club competes in Ykkönen, the second highest tier of men's football, and the women's repre ...

, and he signed a six-month deal with TPS on 3 June. In January 2009 Gyan signed for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

until the end of the 2008–09 season, but made only two appearances for the club in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The com ...

before being released at the end of the season. He signed a contract for

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club T ...

in February 2010. In July, he got released by the club because of knee injury that happened in February. Gyan did not make any appearances for

. He finished his career at amateur side

RKSV Leonidas RKSV Leonidas is a football club from Rotterdam, Netherlands. Leonidas is playing in the Sunday Eerste Klasse (6th tier), after relegation from the 2015–16 Sunday Hoofdklasse A. The club won the 2012 KNVB Amateur Cup. In 1999, Leonidas won t ...

in Rotterdam.

International career

Gyan was part of the Ghana team that won the

1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1995, the sixth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Quito, Ibarra, Cuenca, and Riobamba in Ecuador between 3 and 20 August 1995. Players born after 1 August 1978 could ...

. Gyan played seven games at the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

, where Ghana finished fourth. His full international debut, incidentally, came against the Netherlands. For the senior side he featured eight times between 1998 and 2001, including at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations.

Personal life and death

Gyan was diagnosed with terminal cancer in November 2021. He died from the disease a month later on 29 December 2021, at the age of 43.

Honours

Feyenoord *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 2001–02 *

Eredivisie 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 ...

: 1998-99 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

References

External links

*
FIFA Player Statistics: Christian Gyan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyan, Christian 1978 births 2021 deaths People from Tema Men's association football defenders Ghanaian footballers Ghana men's under-20 international footballers Ghana men's international footballers 2000 African Cup of Nations players Great Mariners F.C. players Excelsior Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Turun Palloseura footballers Rovaniemen Palloseura players UEFA Cup winning players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Veikkausliiga players Wrexham A.F.C. players RKSV Leonidas players Ghanaian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Finland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Wales Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Wales