Laryea Kingston

Early career

Born in Accra, Kingston started his career with local side Great Olympics, whom he joined aged 16, before moving to Libyan side Al-Ittihad Tripoli in 2000, on a loan deal. However, after only four months of this arrangement he returned to Accra, unhappy at his treatment in Tripoli, joining one of Ghana's traditional "Big Two", Hearts of Oak, in 2001. Two years later he moved to Israel, initially with Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. After two Toto Cup matches, Maccabi decided not to retain him and he was signed by Hapoel Tel Aviv, where he played until 2004.

Move to Russia

Russia was Kingston's next destination, where he joined Krylia Sovetov Samara, helping them to third place in the Russian Premier League in his first season. Krylia Sovetov also reached the Cup final that year but were surprisingly defeated 1–0 by Terek Grozny in Moscow. Kingston joined Terek halfway through the 2005 season but was unable to help them avoid a bottom-placed finish and relegation from the top flight into the First Division. Several of Terek's higher-profile players left as a result of this demotion, and Kingston joined Lokomotiv Moscow on loan for the 2006 season. He was banned for 6 matches in July 2006 for deliberately injuring Dynamo Moscow defender Leandro Fernández.

Hearts

When Terek failed to secure a return to the Premier League, Kingston appeared set for a permanent departure from the Chechen side. Despite an approach from Bolton Wanderers and rumored…

Laryea Kingston used to be in the squad of Ghana under-17 national team for the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship and Ghana under-20 national team for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. Well known as an uncompromising and hard-working player by fellow professionals, Kingston's determined style has occasionally caused him problems, most notably when representing the Ghanaian national side at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations, when he was sent off during Ghana's 1–0 victory over Senegal following an altercation with Habib Beye. Both players subsequently received unprecedented four-match suspensions, which resultantly ruled Kingston out of contention for the Ghana squad for 2006 World Cup. Kingston returned to prominence for the Black Stars in February 2007 though, scoring in their 4–1 victory over Nigeria in London. He was also excluded from the squad for the 2010 World Cup.

Kingston's elder brother, Richard Kingson, is also a professional footballer, who played in goal in all four of Ghana's matches at the 2006 World Cup. Richard was also first-choice at the 2010 tournament. He previously played for Blackpool, Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City. On 21 November 1997 his son, Jacob, was born, he is currently a professional footballer who plies his trade with Ghanaian club Accra Great Olympics.