He is currently a board member of Kumasi Asante Kotoko and a pundit of SuperSports in South Africa.
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Ex-Ghana and Bayern defender turns 40 years today
On 3rd September, 1976, Samuel Osei Kuffour was born in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region
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Osei Kuffour has played for all level of the national team: U-17, U-20, U-23 and the Senior Male National Male Football Team of Ghana-the Black Stars. He was part of the Black Starlets team that won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1991 in Italy.
He won several domestic titles with Bayern Munich and crowned it UEFA Champions League and Inter Continental Cup titles in 2001.
Kuffour was part of the Black Stars team that played at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany
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He is arguably the greatest African defender of all-time, Kuffour is known for his great power and tactical awareness as well as a physical presence and nous to unsettle the strongest of attacking players. A Ghana International for 13 years, he won his 1st Cap as a 17-year old when Ghana played Sierra Leone on 28th November, 1993. He has also been part of every Ghanaian national team, at Junior, Youth and Olympic level. He was captain of Ghana at 23 years.
Kuffour burst onto the International scene as a young talented 13-year old defender. At Junior level, Kuffour was a member of the victorious Ghana side that won the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Italy and the Ghana team that was runner-up to Nigeria in the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan. At Youth level, he was part of the Ghana Youth team that was runner-up to Brazil during the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia. At Olympic level Kuffour became the youngest Olympic Football Champion of all-time, when he pocketed bronze at the 1992 Olympics with Ghana just before his 16th birthday. He was also a member of the Ghana team that made the quarter final at the same level in 1996.
Major Honors and awards
Club
Intercontinental Cup Winner 2001
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UEFA Champions League Winner 2001
UEFA Champions League Finalist medal 1999
German Bundesliga Winner 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05
German Bundesliga Runner-up 1997/98, 2003/04
German Cup Winner 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005
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German Cup Finalist medal 1999
Coppa Italia Finalist medal 2006
International
1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship Winner
Football at the 1992 Summer Olympics Bronze Medal
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1993 FIFA World Youth Championship Finalist medal
1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship Finalist medal
1996 African Cup of Nations 4th Place
Individual
African Footballer of the Year Runner-up 1999, 2001
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Ballon d'Or Nomination 2001
Fifa All-Star defender
BBC African Footballer of the Year - Winner 2001
Ghana Footballer of the Year - Winner 1998,1999,2001
Youngest Olympic Football Champion of all-time 15 Years, Bronze Medal in 1992
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Youngest defender of all-time to score in the UEFA Champions League:
18 years, 61 days
Most appearances by an African player in the UEFA Champions League
Ghana Athlete of the Year - Winner 2001
Trivia
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Samuel Kuffour won the U-17 World Championship with Ghana as a 14 year-old in 1991. Kuffour, who has won more than 58 caps for Ghana, was sent home from the 2002 African Cup of Nations over a breach of discipline. He also played in the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2006 African Cup of Nations for Ghana.
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