 Lamptey in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nii Odartey Lamptey | ||
| Date of birth | (1974-12-10)10 December 1974 (age 50) | ||
| Place of birth | Tema,Ghana | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Elmina Sharks (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Young Corners | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1995 | Anderlecht | 30 | (9) |
| 1993–1994 | →PSV (loan) | 22 | (10) |
| 1994–1995 | Aston Villa | 10 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | Coventry City | 6 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Venezia | 5 | (0) |
| 1997 | Boca Juniors | 0 | (0) |
| 1997 | →Unión Santa Fe (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Ankaragücü | 10 | (1) |
| 1998–1999 | União Leiria | 7 | (0) |
| 1999–2001 | Greuther Fürth | 36 | (5) |
| 2001–2002 | Shandong Luneng | 37 | (7) |
| 2003–2004 | Al-Nasr Dubai | ? | (?) |
| 2005–2006 | Asante Kotoko | ? | (?) |
| 2006–2008 | Jomo Cosmos | ? | (?) |
| Total | 169 | (32) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–1996 | Ghana | 38 | (8) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009 | Sekondi Wise Fighters (assistant coach) | ||
| 2021 | Elmina Sharks (head coach) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sassociation football | ||
Representing Ghana | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 | 1992 Barcelona | Team competition |
Nii Odartey Lamptey (born 10 December 1974) is aGhanaian former professionalfootballer and current manager ofElmina Sharks as well as the proprietor of a school inAccra called Glow-Lamp International School. During his career he played as astriker from 1990 until 2008 notably forAston Villa,PSV Eindhoven,Coventry City and theGhana national football team.
He is known foremost for his erratic career, in which he became a superstar as a teenager and then suffered a long string of failures which burnt him out well before his time. Lamptey has been used as a byword for a cautionary tale of putting too much pressure on young players to be successful.[1]
He also played forAnderlecht,Venezia,Boca Juniors,Unión Santa Fe,Ankaragücü,União Leiria,Greuther Fürth,Shandong Luneng,Al-Nassr,Asante Kotoko andJomo Cosmos.
Nii Lamptey was born inTema, but grew up in the two biggest Ghanaian cities,Accra andKumasi. He had a miserable childhood, as his parents abused and neglected him. His father was analcoholic who often beat and lashed him and sometimes burnt his body with cigarettes. Lamptey often refused to spend the nights home and frequently skipped school, only finding refuge in football. Soon, he began to excel in this sport, despite his father heckling him and hurling verbal abuse from the sidelines whenever he watched his son play football.[2]
When Lamptey was eight, his parents divorced, and his stepfather threw him out of the household. Lamptey found refuge in aMuslim football camp and converted fromChristianity toIslam to qualify for entry. When his stepfather found this out, he accused his stepson of sacrilege and often quarreled in front of the football camp.[2]
Lamptey played for the youth team Young Corners inAccra, but wanted to move abroad to play. However, the Ghanaian FA refused and confiscated his passport, wishing to build a team around him in Ghana. He therefore was smuggled into Nigeria by a taxi driver, where he met Nigerian captainStephen Keshi, who had heard of his skills. Keshi persuaded Lamptey to play in Belgium with him, and took Lamptey with him, giving him a fake Nigerian passport that stated Lamptey was his son.[3]
He was hailed as the newPelé and age limit rules in Belgium were changed to allow him to debut at the age of 16 for Anderlecht.[4]
His first season was a success, scoring 7 goals in 14 games.[5] His goal for Anderlecht against Roma in March 1991 in the UEFA Cup still holds the record of the youngest goalscorer in European club tournament history.[6]
He was loaned to Eindhoven, and quickly established himself as a prolific scorer, and continued to impress, scoring 10 times in 22 games.[5]
Ron Atkinson brought Lamptey toAston Villa in the summer of 1994. This move came as a surprise, as PSV was a more successful club than Aston Villa at the time and Lamptey was one of the star players at PSV. However, Lamptey had signed an exclusive marketing contract with an Italian player agent. The player's agent, Antonio Caliendo, would get 25% of whatever Lamptey's transfer fee was, and accordingly sold him to Villa as that would mean the largest commission for himself.[7] Lamptey's illiteracy allowed Caliendo to take advantage of him, even pocketing a signing on bonus intended for Lamptey.[5] He failed to impress at Villa Park, scoring just three times, all of which came in the League Cup againstWigan Athletic (once in the home leg[8] and twice in the away leg).[9]
Following Atkinson's dismissal as Villa boss, he re-signed Lamptey for his new clubCoventry City. Again Lamptey would score his only goals in the League Cup, netting twice againstHull City (once in the home leg[10] and once in the away leg).[11] However, despite his failure at Coventry, his name was not forgotten. From the start of the 2012–13 season, a group of Coventry City fans launched a podcast entitled The Nii Lamptey Show in honour of their former player.[12]
Lamptey joinedVenezia in Italy. Later, he was signed byBoca Juniors and went on loan at that same year atUnión de Santa Fe in Argentina. There, he and his wife had their third child, Diego. But soon, Diego died of a rare disease. A major emotional blow was also the fact that Lamptey wanted to bury his son in Ghana, but the authorities declined. Heartbroken, Lamptey temporarily gave up football. After unsuccessful stints atAnkaragücü andUnião Leiria, Lamptey got himself a new German player agent who transferred him toSpVgg Greuther Fürth. However, Lamptey and his wife were unhappy there, unable to live through theculture shock in Germany. Lamptey was not entirely unsuccessful, being a reliable backup, but was found too fragile for the rough2. Bundesliga. He was also reportedly ignored by his German colleagues, and once, a colleague flat-out refused to sleep in the same hotel room as him. This blatantracism shocked Lamptey, but even worse was the fact that his child Lisa also died soon after birth. Also Lamptey's second dead child was buried abroad, in Germany. The Lampteys soon left for Asia.[2]
Lamptey then joinedShandong Luneng Tai Shan in China.[13]
On 5 March 2007, Lamptey signed for South African sideJomo Cosmos.[14]
Lamptey first began to attract global attention in 1991. He ledGhana to win the1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship with the team known as theBlack Starlets after playing in the1989 version as a 15-year-old. He won the FIFA Best Player of the tournament[15] – theGolden Ball award in a competition that also included Argentina'sJuan Sebastian Verón andMarcelo Gallardo and Italy'sAlessandro del Piero, Lamptey's star shone more brilliantly than them all, as he dominated everyone in the competition. He was subsequently touted as the nextPelé; by Pelé himself. He scored four goals in that tournament.[16] Lamptey later stated that although appreciated, Pelé's praise made life far harder for him, since everyone therefore had extremely high expectations of him that he was not always able to fulfill.[17]
The adidasGolden Ball could only go to one of the members of the victorious Ghanaian side, and so it was, with Lamptey taking home a very special souvenir from his Italian sojourn. Lamptey was the beating heart of a very good side. His fast feet, speed of thought, and clever interplay with captain Alex Opoku and fellow midfieldersMohammed Gargo andEmmanuel Duah were on display for all to see. His willingness to get into the box was critical too, and his four goals made him joint top-goalscorer.[18]
In recognition of his exquisite football he displayed at the FIFA U-17 Tournament, he was named the 1991 fifth best[19]African Footballer of the Year.
Lamptey's brilliance led an enterprising and unpredictableGhana's U-20 team, known as the "Black Satellites" to win the1993 African U-20 Cup of Nations[20] and then lost the final[21] of the1993 FIFA World Youth Championship held inAustralia toBrazil, who came from a goal down to win the trophy at the death, 2–1. He also scored in the match.[22]
In the Summer of 1992, young superstar Nii Lamptey ledGhana to win aBronze medal at theBarcelona1992 Summer Olympics football tournament.[23]Ghana, who had the youngest team by far in the competition (the average age of the squad was 18.8 years), were surprisebronze medallists, becoming the first African nation to earn a medal. They did so in a 1–0 victory over yet another surprise,Australia.[24]
His international career with Ghana dried up after he was sent off in the1996 African Cup of Nations semi-final game.[25]
Lamptey retired from football in 2008. He now breeds cattle and sheep on a farm on the outskirts of Accra. He served as a pundit on Ghanaian television during the 2014 World Cup.[5]
He also foundedGlow-lamp International School, so as to give back to society and ensure than children have the chance to learn to read and write: something he was never able to do. As of 2017, his school has almost 400 pupils. He also has a football academy he coaches at inElmina.[26][5]
Lamptey has said that despite everything, he does not feel like a loser, but rather as a hardened survivor who refuses to be destroyed, and whom God will not punish.[5]
Lamptey married Gloria Appiah in 1993. The marriage was a controversial one, angering his brothers, as Appiah is from a different tribe (Fante) to his (Ga).[3] He had five children, of whom two died to lung diseases.[5] However, a DNA test revealed he was not the biological father of the remaining three children and he divorced her. Appiah filed for an appeal in court, requesting 50% of his assets in the divorce including occupancy at the couple's East Legon apartment, but was refused by the judge.[27][28]
As of 2016, Lamptey is engaged to actress and model Ruweida Yakuba with whom he has two children.[5][29]
He has had a feud with Ghanaian starAbedi Pele, but refuses to disclose the reason.[3]
On 19 February 2009 signed a contract as Assistant atSekondi Wise Fighters; here he assisted the new Head CoachCharles Akonnor.[30] He also owns a football academy inElmina that he coaches at.[5]
Anderlecht[31]
Asante Kotoko[31]
Ghana U-17[5]
Ghana U-20[5]
Ghana U-23
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