Richard Kingson (born 13 June 1978) is a Ghanaian 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He currently serves as a goalkeeper coach for the

Ghana national football team The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international football, doing it since 1957. The team consists of twenty players including the technical team. The team is nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in ...

. He is also known by his Turkish name Faruk Gürsoy and sometimes by the surname Kings''t''on, which is the surname he used in his UEFA registration and also the surname of his brother Laryea Kingston. The different spelling of the surnames is due to "irregularity on his identity documents". Even in his native Ghana, he was quoted as "the man who got the 't' off his surname". After leaving his home country, he played for several clubs in Turkey, for Hammarby in Sweden, and in England for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, who released him at the end of the 2010–11 season. Kingson was the

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

for the

Club career

Turkey

Kingson left his native

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, , ...

in 1996 to pursue a career in Turkey, where he represented six different clubs, and became a naturalised citizen, taking a Turkish name, Faruk Gürsoy, coming from

Faruk Süren Faruk Süren (born 1945) is a Turkish of Aramean (Syriac) origin businessman and former chairman of the Turkish sports club Galatasaray. Süren was born in Istanbul as Faruk Sürenyan. He went to Deutsche Schule Istanbul and graduated from a Ge ...

and Ergun Gürsoy. His first club in Turkey was Galatasaray S.K., whom he signed for in December 1996 but did not play a single game. On 2004–05 season when he played with Galatasaray again, he was suspended from football for six months after a failed doping test.

Birmingham City

After a three-month period on loan to Swedish club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

, he drew attention from other clubs in Europe, including

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and

, eventually joining the latter. On 28 August 2007, Kingson made his debut for Birmingham in a

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 ...

third round tie against

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. He played once 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 Foo ...

, in a 2–0 defeat to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

Eric Black John Eric Black (born 1 October 1963) is a Scottish former professional football player and coach. Black played as a striker for Aberdeen and Metz, winning major trophies with both clubs, and earned two international caps for the Scotland nat ...

's only game in charge. At the end of the season, co-owner David Sullivan blamed the club's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

on the quality of previous manager

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

's signings, branding Kingson a "complete waste of space". Kingson was disappointed and angered by the perceived unfairness of Sullivan's reaction, saying that "an older person, in his position, has to speak maturely. He has to be a responsible man as co-owner to speak well and set an example to younger people." The player's contract, which still had one year to run, was cancelled by mutual consent at the end of the 2007–08 season.

Wigan Athletic

Kingson joined up with former manager Steve Bruce when he signed for

on 12 September 2008. He was given the number 22 shirt, the same number as he wears for Ghana. He made his first-team debut in the

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 ...

third round tie against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, where his side lost 3–1. He made his first Premier League appearance for the club when he replaced the injured

Chris Kirkland Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper who is now the head goalkeeping coach at Colne. As a player, he made 321 league and cup appearances in an 18-year professional career ...

after 10 minutes of the away match against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

on 9 May 2009. He saved a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

from Chris Brunt, but Brunt was able to score from the rebound, and the game ended as a 3–1 defeat. He was released after his contract expired at Wigan at the end of the 2009–10 season

Blackpool

Following his release by Wigan Athletic, he signed for Premier League newcomers

in September 2010. He made his debut for ''the Seasiders'' in a 3–2 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

on 10 November 2010. Following an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Matt Gilks, Kingson had an extended run in the first team. On 26 May 2011, Kingson was released, along with several other Blackpool players.

Doxa Katokopias

After two years out of the game, Kingson signed a one-year deal for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club Doxa Katokopias in July 2013. He made his debut on the opening day of the league season, keeping a clean sheet as his team beat Nea Salamis 2–0.

Balıkesirspor

In January 2014, Kingson returned to Turkey, to play for Turkish second-tier side

Balıkesirspor Balıkesirspor is a Turkish club based in Balıkesir. Established in 1966, the football team played in the Süper Lig after achieving promotion having finished as runners-up of the TFF First League in 2013–14. The team's previous promotion was ...

on a half-year plus two years deal.

Great Olympics

In 2015, Kingson was signed in a short-term contract by

Great Olympics Accra Great Olympics is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Accra, Greater Accra. The club is currently competing in the Ghana Premier League. It has won the Ghana Premier League twice, in 1970, 1974 and the Ghana FA Cup thrice, in 197 ...

. The following year, Kingson stated he still dreamed of playing for

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

before retiring and it was reported that he would be signed for the team, which was later denied.

International career

Kingson was the starting goalkeeper of the Ghana national team, and was called up for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, the

2008 Africa 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 ...

and 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 ...

. During the 2006 World Cup, the Ghanaian FA stated that his name is Kingston; however, the player's shirt used the correct spelling of his name, as confirmed by Kingson himself. He was voted as an All-Star Goalkeeper during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Tournament 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 ...

. The Team of the Tournament was decided by the Technical Study Group (TSG) after careful observations of all the tournament's matches. In 2008, he scored a goal for Ghana in a friendly – a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw against

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. As first-choice goalkeeper and team captain he was instrumental in leading Ghana to the final of the 2010 tournament, and was again selected for the all-star team along with Egypt goalkeeper

Essam El-Hadary Essam Kamal Tawfiq El Hadary ( ar, عصام كمال توفيق الحضري; born 15 January 1973) is an Egyptian goalkeeping coach and former professional footballer. Nicknamed the "High Dam", El Hadary spent the largest portion of his club ...

. In the

2010 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 ...

in South Africa, Kingson was selected in Ghana's opening game against Serbia, who had

Vladimir Stojković Vladimir Stojković (, ; born 28 July 1983) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Saudi club Al-Fayha as a goalkeeper. During his career he played for the two biggest clubs in his country, Red Star and Partizan, but also represent ...

, Kingson's fellow goalkeeper at Wigan Athletic in goal on the other side, keeping a clean sheet in The Black Stars 1–0 victory. In his next game he made a mistake in the 11th minute to give the lead to Australia in a group game which finished 1–1. His final group game ended in a narrow 1–0 defeat to Germany, but the team still qualified for the knock-out stages. In the match of 16 versus USA, he was voted Turkish Airlines Top of the Match after making several saves in the 2–1 extra time victory. The team then moved on to the quarter-finals, where a goal was prevented by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez and which awarded Ghana a penalty kick. Ghana striker

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 ...

missed the penalty and Ghana ultimately lost in a penalty shootout, with Sebastian Abreu winning it with a Panenka.

Personal life

Kingson is the brother of Laryea Kingston, who was also a member of the Ghana national team. He is a

naturalised citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and his Turkish name is Faruk Gürsoy. Kingson is married to Adelaide Tawiah. The ceremony took place in Ghana. Kingson's national teammates

and John Paintsil were among the guests at the wedding. In 2012 a controversy arose when Kingson's wife during a prayer deliverance at the Synagogue Church of All Nations Church of

T. B. Joshua Temitope Balogun Joshua (12 June 1963 – 5 June 2021), popularly known as T. B. Joshua, was a Nigerian charismatic pastor, televangelist, and philanthropist. He was the leader and founder of Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN), a Chris ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

confessed that she had used spirits to destroy Kingson's career and rendered him impotent. Kingson defended his wife by saying that it was not she who spoke but a spirit that spoke through her.

Coaching career

After Kingson retired, he went into coaching. In May 2017, he was appointed as the goal keeper's coach for the

. In 2019, he was relieved of duties along with the whole technical team. After a reshuffle of the technical national teams, he was appointed as the goal keeper's coach of the Ghana A' national football team in June 2021. Kingson also served as goal keeper's coach for his former club Accra Great Olympics in January 2021, when Yaw Preko served as the interim head coach. The following month, he joined Accra Hearts of Oak to serve in that same capacity for an interim period. On 4 August 2021, he was reassigned to the Ghana national team as the goal keeper's coach.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Galatasaray S.K. *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2004–05 Ghana *

Africa Cup of Nations 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 ...

runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

; third place:

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; ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingson, Richard 1978 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian footballers Association football goalkeepers Hammarby Fotboll players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Ankaraspor footballers Göztepe S.K. footballers Elazığspor footballers Antalyaspor footballers Sakaryaspor footballers Birmingham City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Doxa Katokopias FC players Balıkesirspor footballers Allsvenskan players Premier League players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Cypriot First Division players Accra Great Olympics F.C. players Ghana international footballers 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2000 African Cup of Nations players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers of Ghana Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Ghanaian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Turkey Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in England Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Association football goalkeeping coaches Accra Great Olympics F.C. non-playing staff Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. non-playing staff Doping cases in association football Ghanaian sportspeople in doping cases Naturalized citizens of Turkey