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The African champion had the opportunity to represent the Super Eagles, but ended up playing for the country of his birth
Former Enyimba forward Joetex Asamoah Frimpong has revealed that he initially never felt like playing for Ghana and was only interested in playing for Nigeria.
The 38-year-old is widely remembered as one of the most successful non-Nigerian players to practice in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), did so with the People’s Elephants between 2003 and 2006 and won the Champions League. of the Caf. in 2003 and 2004, in addition to two league titles, a Federation Cup, a Nigerian Super Cup and two Caf Super Cups.
Frimpong became a very famous player in Nigeria and this interested him in representing the country. He had the opportunity to represent the U23 team, but was rejected after his true nationality was revealed.
Frimpong, who had previously played for El-Kanemi Warriors before moving to Enyimba, was eventually persuaded by his father to represent Ghana and landed his first international match in 2005.
It was also in the books of Niger Tornadoes, Katsina United and Gabros Internationa, now FC Ifeanyi Ubah.
Frimpong says he never thought he would get a call-up for the Black Stars, as they usually had a habit of selecting foreign players and not players from the local league or other African leagues.
“My call came at the right time. In fact, I did not expect it because when you play for a club in Africa nobody looks at you, especially we want foreign players, “she said. Break FM.
“What I know is that when you travel outside of Ghana to Nigeria or Benin, you are a foreigner but in our case people think that when you are in Africa you are still a local player.
“Because of this, I didn’t expect any call-up until I was called up for the U-23. Nigeria also approached me, but my father told me to represent Ghana. Personally, I was interested in playing for Nigeria, but it was my father who convinced me.
Frimpong represented Ghana 11 times, scoring two goals. They were part of the Black Stars team at the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, where they were eliminated from the group stage.
Frimpong had a short season with Tunisian giants CS Sfaxien and played off the shores of Africa for Al-Nasr in Saudi Arabia and Young Boys, FC Luzern, FC Grenchen and FC Zurich, all in Switzerland.
He has been in charge of the Swiss team FC Niederbipp since 2014 after retiring from professional football a year earlier.
