Daniel Tawiah Opare (; born 18 October 1990) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Belgian club Seraing.

Club career

Early career

In November 2007, Opare was recognized by '' World Soccer'' as one of the "50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet". He received rave reviews for using his incredible

footspeed 200px, Sprinting is a sport that requires development of footspeed Footspeed, or sprint speed, is the maximum speed at which a human can run. It is affected by many factors, varies greatly throughout the population, and is important in athletic ...

and precision crossing to great effect for the Ghana national under-17 team, ''the Black Starlets'', 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 ...

. On 3 July 2010, Opare left

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capac ...

to sign for Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. On 20 May 2014, just before the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

, it was announced Opare had signed for Portuguese club

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

after a successful four-year stint with Standard Liège.

Augsburg

On 13 August 2015, Opare signed a three-year contract with German club

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded ...

for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Royal Antwerp

In July 2018 Opare signed a contract with Belgian club

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

as a free agent after his contract with his previous team had run out.

Seraing

On 12 January 2022, Opare signed a 1.5-year contract with Seraing.

International career

Youth

;2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup A converted

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 ...

and skillful lateral defender, Opare initiated ''the Black Starlets'' attacking moves with surging runs and was responsible for supplying the forwards Ransford Osei and Sadick Adams with precise

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

from wide areas. At the back, he looks equally comfortable and composed. He assisted on many of Ghana's goals at the 2007 African Under-17 Championship in Togo in March 2007, as well as in the U-17 World Cup, where he was a standout in all seven matches he played in. Opare was widely regarded as the best defender at the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup. ;2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup In September 2009, Opare was included in the Ghana national under-20 team (''the Black Satellites'') for the 2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt, in which Opare had helped the Ghana team win for the first time by defeating

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 ...

in the finals at the

Cairo International Stadium The Cairo International Stadium ( ar, ستاد القاهرة الدولي), formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March ...

on 16 October 2009.

Senior

On 13 November 2007, three weeks after 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 Tog ...

's 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 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 ...

international

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

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 wa ...

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, , ...

, Ghana, on 18 November 2007, after another excellent display, assisting twice on a superb

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

by Ransford Osei against

's U-17 team in a junior international friendly at the same venue on Sunday, 11 November 2007. ;2008 African Cup of Nations The U-17 World Cup star was part of Ghana's squad for the

2008 African Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederat ...

. However, on 10 January 2008, Ghana's

team doctor The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building The goal of a team physician is to improve p ...

, Martin Engmann, told the media Opare had not recovered from an ankle injury he sustained in the Pre-Tournament Training Camp at the Jebel Ali Hotel Resort and Spa in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

, and was excluded from the squad together alongside injured teammates

Matthew Amoah Mathew Amoah (born 24 October 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a striker. From 2002 to 2011 he represented the Ghana national team at international level, scoring 12 goals in 45 matches. Club career Vitesse an ...

and captain

Stephen Appiah Stephen Leroy Appiah ( ; born 24 December 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He capt ...

. ;2012 African Cup of Nations In December 2011, Opare was named to the Ghana's provisional 25-man squad for the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ...

. In January 2012, he was selected for the tournament's 23-man squad. Opare was never given an opportunity by the then head coach of Ghana,

Goran Stevanović Goran Stevanović (, ; born 27 November 1966) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Playing career He started his career in Partizan, a club where he passed all categories, from pioneers to seniors. He played a total of 328 games and ...

, to feature in any of the six matches the Ghana national team played at the 2012 African Cup of Nations. ;2014 FIFA World Cup On 2 June 2014, Opare was named in Ghana's squad for the

. In the team's opening match, he started at right-back against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in a 2–1 defeat, however he did not appear in their other two matches as Ghana failed to advance past the group stage.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

CS Sfaxien *

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Standard Liège *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2011 Belgian Cup Final, 2011 Ghana U-20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

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; Protests ...

References

External links