Kwame Ayew

Kwame Ayew

Personal information
Full name	Kwame Ayew
Date of birth	(1973-12-28) 28 December 1973
Place of birth	Tamale, Ghana
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1990	Africa Sports
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1992	Metz
1992–1993	Al Ahli	22	(14)
1993–1995	Lecce	34	(7)
1995–1996	União Leiria	13	(1)
1996–1997	Vitória Setúbal	23	(8)
1997–1999	Boavista	56	(31)
1999–2000	Sporting CP	26	(7)
2000–2001	Yozgatspor	19	(11)
2001–2002	Kocaelispor	28	(10)
2002–2003	Shenyang Ginde	28	(14)
2004–2006	Inter Shanghai	56	(26)
2007	Vitória Setúbal	12	(3)
Total		317	(132)
International career
1992–2001	Ghana	25	(9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
	1992 Barcelona	Team Competition

Kwame Ayew (Akan: pronunciation: /æˈjjuː/ a-YEW; born 28 December 1973) is a Ghanaian retired footballer who played as a striker.

During nearly 20 years he played professionally in six countries, mainly in Portugal where he appeared for four teams in the 90s, amassing top division totals of 131 games and 51 goals over the course of six seasons.

Club career

Born in Tamale, Ayew started playing professionally in France at only 17, spending a couple of Ligue 1 seasons with FC Metz, then moved to Qatar with Al Ahli SC and played in another country in the following two years, Italy, appearing and scoring sparingly for U.S. Lecce (for instance, he netted four goals in 1993–94's Serie A as his club ranked last with only 28 goals, a competition-worst).

Ayew moved to Portugal in 1995, and would remain there in the following five years. He started with U.D. Leiria and Vitória de Setúbal, then impressed at Boavista F.C. also in the top division, scoring 15 times in 27 games in his second season to earn his team a best-ever at the time runner-up place, behind neighbours F.C. Porto.

After nearly 50 official goals for the Checquereds, Ayew moved to country giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Even though he was never an automatic first-choice (having to battle for a starting berth with Alberto Acosta, Edmilson and Mbo Mpenza), he netted seven goals in 13 starts as the Lions ended an 18-year drought and conquered the national championship.

In the following years Ayew would play in Turkey (two seasons) and China (five), rarely settling with a club. In January 2007 the 33-year-old returned to former side Setúbal, contributing solidly as the Sadinos avoided top flight relegation by one point; he retired from the game shortly after.

International career

Ayew was a member of the Ghana national football team that won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, scoring six goals in as many games. In total, he won 25 senior caps.

Personal life

Football runs in Ayew's family: his brothers Abedi and Sola also played football, the former spending a big part of his career with Olympique de Marseille. His nephews, André, Rahim and Jordan, also played the sport professionally.

Club statistics

Season	Club	Nation	Match	Goals
90/91	Metz	France	?	?
90/92	Metz	France	?	?
92/93	Al Ahli	Qatar	22	14
93/94	Lecce	Italy	18	3
94/95	Lecce	Italy	16	4
95/96	União Leiria	Portugal	13	1
96/97	Vitória Setúbal	Portugal	23	8
97/98	Boavista	Portugal	29	16
98/99	Boavista	Portugal	27	15
99/00	Sporting	Portugal	26	7
00/01	Yozgatspor	Turkey	19	11
01/02	Kocaelispor	Turkey	28	10
2003	Shenyang Ginde	China	28	14
2004	Inter Shanghai	China	20	17
2005	Inter Shanghai	China	23	8
2006	Inter Xian	China	13	1
2007	Vitória Setúbal	Portugal	12	3

External links

• Kwame Ayew at footballzz.co.uk
• Kwame Ayew profile at ForaDeJogo
• Kwame Ayew at National-Football-Teams.com