George Antwi Boateng (born 5 September 1975) 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 a

defensive 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 boundari ...

. He is Assistant Coach of the Ghana national team. Born in Ghana, raised in Holland and he represented the Netherlands internationally, making four appearances for the Netherlands national team.

Club career

Born in

Nkawkaw Nkawkaw is a town in southern Ghana and is the capital of Kwahu East District, an area in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. Nkawkaw has a 2013 settlement population of 61,785 people. Nkawkaw is also described as a city in a valley as it the ...

, Ghana, after playing 70 games for Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam, Boateng completed a £220,000 move to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in 1998. Under the management of

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

he proved himself to be a solid defensive midfielder, helping the attacking

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

- Huckerby Coventry side of 1998 finish eleventh in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and enjoy mid table stability. He is still fondly remembered by Sky Blues fans as being responsible for breaking one of Coventry's longstanding hoodoo's-victory at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

: Boateng scored twice in the 4–1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park on 27 February 1999, ending Coventry's 63-year-long wait for a league win at the ground. The next season Boateng transferred to Aston Villa for £4.5 million. He proceeded to play 131 matches for Villa, including an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

final defeat against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 2000. The tough-tackling central midfielder then fell out with manager

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

in the 2001–02 season. After a move to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

collapsed due to demands from agents, that summer Boateng completed a £5 million move to Middlesbrough. Boateng made his full debut on the first day of the 2002–03 season away to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in an uneventful game that finished 0–0. Occupying the defensive midfield position, he became the solid platform upon which Middlesbrough built their attack. He recovered from an ankle operation in the summer of 2003 to be fit for the start of the 2003–04 season. That season, he was part of the Middlesbrough team which lifted the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

for the first time. In the 2004–05 season, he scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in a 4–0 win at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 16 October 2004. However, he was injured for eight weeks with a broken toe; during this period, Middlesbrough dropped from fourth down to ninth in the league. He did recover in time to help Middlesbrough obtain the results they needed for qualification for the

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 ...

. In a poll on the official Boro website, fans voted him the player most missed due to injury in the 2004–05 season. He started for Middlesbrough in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final. In June 2006 he signed a new three-year contract with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He was announced as the new club captain on 21 July 2006, replacing

Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016. Southgate won the League Cup ...

, who had been promoted to manager. On 10 March 2007, he scored in an

tie against league leaders Manchester United, his first goal in the tournament since 1999 when he scored for Coventry against Macclesfield Town. On 22 January 2008, Boateng had his captaincy rescinded by Gareth Southgate. Southgate cited his desire for Boateng to "concentrate on his game". He was replaced as captain by Emanuel Pogatetz.

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

announced on 10 July 2008 that Boateng had agreed to sign a contract with them. The move was completed on 16 July, after the completion of a medical. On 6 February 2010, Boateng scored his first career goal for Hull City in a 2–1 win over Manchester City, their first win since November 2009. Boateng's contract with Hull City came to an end following their relegation from the Premier League in 2010. He was confirmed as having left the club along with former Dutch national teammate Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. After holding talks with Celtic he joined Greek side

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

on a two-year deal. On 27 July 2011, it was announced that Boateng had joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, on a one-year deal. Boateng scored his first goal for Nottingham Forest in dramatic fashion, scoring in the 94th minute to grab Forest a point against Leicester City. At the end of June 2012 he left the club. On 15 November 2012, he arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to sign a contract with T-Team. Four days later, he signed a one-year contract, linking him again with former

teammate and

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

international Caleb Folan.

International career

Although born in

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 ...

, Boateng chose to represent Netherlands at international level, earning four caps in total for ''Oranje''. Boateng made his international debut for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in November 2001.

Managerial career

Kelantan FA

In 2014, Boateng was unveiled as

Kelantan FA Kelantan Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kelantan) is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The club plays in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football since 2023. Founded in 1946, the ...

new head coach to replace Steve Darby who had been shown the exit door after a 4–0 loss to Sime Darby F.C. On 6 May 2014, Kelantan FA came back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 with Felda United F.C. in first leg of the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final in Boateng's first game as head coach. Boateng apologised to the Kelantan fans after Kelantan FA were knocked out of the Malaysia Cup by

Kedah FA Kedah Darul Aman Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kedah Darul Aman) is a football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah, that competes in the Malaysia Super League. They are the only team in the history of Malaysian football to have won two treb ...

with 4–3 aggregate, and there were reports saying that he would step down from his role as Kelantan FA head coach the following season but that proved to be wrong by Kelantan FA President, Annuar Musa. He was moved to the Technical Director position on 24 March 2015, and his position as head coach was taken by

Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah Muhammad Azraai Khor Bin Abdullah, formerly known as Khor Sek Leng, (; born 25 October 1952) is a Malaysian football coach and former player. Azraai, whom one of the most successful coach in Malaysia when he considered to be one of the best f ...

. Boateng left his post as technical director of Kelantan on 11 May 2015 in order to work as coach or manager again.

Blackburn Rovers

On 5 September 2018, Boateng signed as Under 13's head coach at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

where he coached different age groups at the academy.

Aston Villa

On 29 July 2019, it was announced that Boateng had left Rovers to take up a position as Aston Villa Under-18 Professional Development Coach. In September 2020, Boateng was promoted to become the Professional Development Coach of the under 23 squad at Aston Villa . On 26 August 2022, Boateng announced that he would be leaving his role at Aston Villa in order to focus on his role with the Ghanaian national team in the build up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup that winter.

Ghana national team

In May 2022 the

Ghana Football Association The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is a governing body of association football, based in Accra. Founded in 1957, it was dissolved with "immediate effect", according to Minister of Sport, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, on 7 June 2018, after the uncover ...

announced that Boateng would be the new assistant coach of Ghana national team.

Personal life

Boateng is a devout Christian and says his faith affects the way he conducts himself. In an interview with ''

Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...

'' he stated: "My family and I have become very devoted Christians. Hearing and acting on the Word is very important."

Career statistics

Club

Coaching statistics

Honours

Aston Villa * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001 *

: runner-up 1999–2000 Middlesbrough * Football League Cup: 2003–04 *

: runner-up 2005–06

References

External links

*
Netherlands profile
at OnsOranje * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boateng, George 1975 births Living people People from Eastern Region (Ghana) Ghanaian emigrants to the Netherlands Association football midfielders Ghanaian footballers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Excelsior Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Coventry City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Terengganu F.C. II players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Premier League players English Football League players Super League Greece players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Ghanaian Christians Dutch Christians Dutch expatriate football managers Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Kelantan FA managers FA Cup Final players Association football coaches