Dominic Adiyiah (born 29 November 1989) 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 striker.

Club career

Early career

Adiyiah began his football career at

Feyenoord Ghana West African Football Academy (WAFA) Sporting Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based near Sogakope in the Volta Region that was founded by Feyenoord from Rotterdam. They are competing in the Ghana Premier League. The 2016–17 seaso ...

. He spent several years in Gomoa Fetteh, where the academy is based, before transferring to Heart of Lions in 2007. After making his debut in the

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 ...

with the club based in

Kpandu Kpando is a town and capital of Kpando Municipal District in the northern Volta Region of Ghana. It is near the north eastern arm of Lake Volta and the Togo border. Kpando is the fifty-fourth most populous place in Ghana, in terms of population, w ...

, at the end of the 2007–08 season he was named Most Exciting Player of the league.

Fredrikstad

In August 2008, Adiyiah made the move to Europe, being signed by Norwegian top flight club

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the ...

for a fee of only £100k (approx. €125k as of that date). He made his debut for the club in an away match against Aalesund, on 30 August. He went scoreless in four appearances during the 2008 season, as the team finished second in the league. The following season, he scored twice during the training camp, but did not scored in the four league matches he appeared. He also made his debut in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, in the second leg of the third qualifying round against Lech Poznań.

Milan

In late October 2009, after impressing in the U-20 World Cup, Adiyiah was reported to be close to joining

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Speculation increased as Fredrikstad announced they had received a bid €500k for the young striker from a big European club. The rumour was eventually confirmed by Milan CEO

Adriano Galliani Adriano Galliani (born 30 July 1944) is an Italian entrepreneur and football executive who is the CEO of club Monza. He is known for being former vice-chairman and CEO of AC Milan from 1986 to 2017, a period in the club's history known as ...

on 1 November, and six days later the Ghanaian signed his new contract, as he had passed routine medical examinations. The move was ratified on 2 January 2010, the first day of the winter transfer window. However Adiyiah was still not able to play, since he was called up by the Ghana national team to take part in the

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

. Upon his return, a month later, he also secured an Italian work permit, which he was still lacking, thus becoming definitively eligible to play. Despite this, he was never selected by head coach

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

during the remainder of the 2009–10 season. On 25 June 2012, Adiyiah completed a three-year

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

with Arsenal Kyiv, ending his three years career with AC Milan.

Partizan (loan)

Subsequently, Adiyiah was sent to

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 ...

club

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

on another loan deal until the end of the season where he joined his national teammate

Prince Tagoe Prince Tagoe (born 9 November 1986) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Chittagong Abahani and is currently working as a sports television panellist along with Charles Taylor on Angel TV sports programme. Bor ...

Karşıyaka (loan)

In the 2011 summer transfer window he signed a loan-deal with

Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of İzmir. Its centre is at a distance of to the north from the traditional cen ...

who play in

Bank Asya 1. Lig The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

, Turkey's second-tier league.

Arsenal Kyiv

Bernard & Adiyiah Shakhtar Donetsk-Arsenal Kiev 2013

However, in February 2012 he was called back from Karşıyaka, due to lack of playing time and loaned to

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

side

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

. On 25 June 2012, Adiyiah completed a three-year

with Arsenal Kyiv, after spending three years with AC Milan.

Atyrau

In June 2014, Adiyiah signed for

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side

FC Atyrau Football Club Atyrau ( kk, "Атырау" футбол клубы, ''"Atyraý" fýtbol klýby'') is a professional football club based in Atyrau, who last played in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's h ...

Nakhon Ratchasima

In February 2015, Adiyiah signed for

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

side Nakhon Ratchasima F.C. After a successful season where Nakon Ratchasima reached 8th place Adiyiah announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of his contract. He later changed his mind however and agreed to stay at Nakhon Ratchasima for another season.

International career

Ghana U-20

Adiyiah started to be called up by the Black Satellites in 2008, making his debut on 30 March, in a match against

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesWAFU U-20 Championship The WAFU U-20 Championship is an association football tournament that is contested between West African nations. It was funded by The Economic Community Of West African States. Eligible participants * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2018 edit ...

. The following year, he was part of the squad that won the African Youth Championship. His successful 2009 was not over: in October, he took part also in the U-20 World Cup held in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

; as the team went on winning the trophy, he was awarded the Golden Shoe for the top-scorer with 8 goals in 7 games and was also named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Ghana

Adiyiah earned his first call-up with the Black Stars on 3 November 2009, shortly after the U-20 triumph, for a

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

, to be played on 15 November. However, he was left as an unused substitute. He did make his senior debut three days later though, in a friendly against

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. In January 2010, he was part of the Ghanaian team that reached the final at the

. Despite making only two substitute appearances, he showed glimpses of a player for the future. In June of the same year, Adiyiah was called up to take part in the upcoming

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, to be played in South Africa. He made his debut in the competition during the last match of the group stage against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, coming off the bench for the final minutes. After being left as an unused substitute in the round of 16, he was sent on in the quarter-finals against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. In the very last minute of extra time, Adiyiah's header was saved on the line by Uruguyan striker

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Pistolero'' ('The Gunman'), he is ...

, who palmed the ball away with both his hands, resulting in a penalty kick for Ghana and Suarez being sent off. However,

Asamoah Gyan Asamoah Gyan ( ; born 22 November 1985) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Legon Cities FC and is the former captain of the Ghanaian national team. Gyan began his career in 2003 with Ghanaian Premier Leag ...

smashed the penalty against the bar and the game went to the shootout. Adiyiah took the fourth penalty with his team trailing 2–3, but had his shot saved;

Sebastián Abreu Washington Sebastián Abreu Gallo (; born 17 October 1976) is a Uruguayan football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Peruvian club Universidad César Vallejo. He is best known for his record of ap ...

seized the chance by subsequently scoring the deciding penalty for Uruguay.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Partizan *

2010–11 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. ...

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

Ghana U20 *

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 * African Youth Championship: 2009 Ghana * Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2010 Individual *

Most Exciting Player: 2007–08 *

Golden Ball: 2009 *FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Shoe: 2009 * CAF Young Player of the Year: 2009 * Ghana Player of the Year: 2009

References

External links

Dominic Adiyiah Dominic Adiyiah (born 29 November 1989) is a Ghanaian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker. Club career Early career Adiyiah began his football career at Feyenoord Ghana. He spent ...