Lee Addy (born 26 September 1985) 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 defender. He played for the Ghana national team at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Club career

Early career

Addy began his senior career in 2007 playing with

Nania F.C. Nania F.C. (often known as ''Abedi Pele's Nania Accra F.C.'') is a Ghanaian professional Football team, football club based in Legon, Greater Accra Region, Greater Accra. They are a currently competing in the Ghana Football Leagues#Division One L ...

Soon after, in 2008, he moved to the

Bechem Chelsea Berekum United Football Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Berekum, Bono Region, previously known as Bechem Chelsea Football Club. They compete in the Ghanaian top-flight league called the First Capital Premier League. His ...

playing 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 ...

Red Star Belgrade

At the end of the

Addy received a call to move to Europe to play with

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

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

and he signed a contract. He became a regular centre-back at both his club and the Ghana national team.

Dalian Aerbin

On 4 January 2012, Addy completed a three-year deal with newly promoted

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

side

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Their home stadium is Dalian Sports Ce ...

and was handed the

squad number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

13 after passing a

medical test A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic ...

. The move from Serbian club Red Star Belgrade was for a reported transfer fee of $2.2 million.

Dinamo Zagreb

On 10 February 2013, it was announced that Addy had been loaned to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

for a year. He signed for

in January 2014. He ended his Dinamo Zagreb spell in late July 2015.

Čukarički

Addy signed a one-year contract with

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football. Founded in 1926, the club sp ...

on 31 August 2015.

Free State Stars

In August 2019 it was reported, that Addy had signed with

Free State Stars Free State Stars Football club is a South African professional football club based in Bethlehem, Free State that plays in the National First Division. Formerly known as Makwane Computer Stars and Qwa Qwa Stars, their most significant honour ...

in South Africa. However, it was later reported in December 2019, that he had terminated his contract with the club.

International career

Early career & 2010 African Nations Cup

On 30 September 2009, Addy made his debut for the Ghanaian national team as part of a domestic-based team that played a friendly against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He was part of the Ghana national squad at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations having played four matches including the lost final against

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 ...

. and since then he quickly became a regular player of the national team.

2010 World Cup

Addy was called up by Ghana's national team for the

In Ghana's opening game at the 2010 World Cup, he entered as a substitute in a 1–0 win over

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. He also played in the 1–1 draw against Australia in the group stage, after which he appeared again as a substitute in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

2–1 victory over 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but couldn't play in the quarter-finals match 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 ...

because of accumulated yellow cards, where Ghana was eliminated in a penalty shoot-out.

Age controversy

Before the

, Addy's age became the subject of controversy. When he debuted in the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in September 2009, he was registered with date of birth 26 September 1985. That statement also stated on most sites on the web. Even FIFA lists Addy as born on 26 September 1985 in the official documents. But when Addy was reported in Ghana's

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 ...

squad, he had suddenly been five years younger and lists as born on 7 July 1990. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet was in contact with FIFA regarding the matter. FIFA informed that they did a passport control on Addy, but they did not find anything suspicious. Also there was a lack of comparative material, because Addy never got any previous passport control.

Honours

Club

Red Star Belgrade *

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 ...

: 2011–12 Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

: 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Croatian Supercup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the tw ...

: 2013

Individual

: Best central defender of the 2008 season.

International

Ghana * 2010 African Nations Cup: Runner-up

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Addy, Lee 1990 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian footballers Ghana international footballers Ghanaian expatriate footballers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players Association football defenders AC Tripoli players Lusaka Dynamos F.C. players Free State Stars F.C. players Dalian Professional F.C. players Chinese Super League players F.C. Nania players Berekum Chelsea F.C. players Red Star Belgrade footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players FK Čukarički players Serbian SuperLiga players Croatian Football League players Expatriate footballers in Lebanon Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in China Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in Serbia Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Zambia Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Zambia Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Alumni of the Accra Academy Lebanese Premier League players