Harrison Afful

Feyenoord Academy

Afful joined the Feyenoord Academy after being discovered as a youth by Sam Arday. He rose through the youth ranks to the first team, appearing 148 times and scoring 11 goals in all competitions for the academy. Afful underwent a trial with Feyenoord, the parent club of the academy, in 2008. However, after four weeks, he was released without a contract and was informed that he was deemed too small. He also spent time training with Stabæk, Helsingborgs IF, and Mamelodi Sundowns but returned to Ghana after failing to land a contract.

Loan to Asante Kotoko

Following the Feyenoord Academy's relegation to the Division One League, Afful returned to the Ghana Premier League with a loan to Asante Kotoko. The move was made possible through a clause in Jordan Opoku's contract. He had been bought by Kotoko the year before, and his contract allowed Asante Kotoko to choose one player to bring in on loan from the academy. They exercised it by choosing Afful. Afful impressed Kotoko head coach Bashir Hayford with his performance during a 10-minute cameo in a friendly match, allowing him to break into the first team after initially appearing to be outside Hayford's plans. He made his league debut for the club and scored in a 3–0 victory against All Blacks on 2 December 2007. Afful was named as the league's Player of the Year as Asante Kotoko won the Ghana Premier League title in 2007–08. Upon the expiration of his initial one-year loan, he returned to…

Afful debuted in the Ghanaian international setup at the under-20 level, appearing six times and scoring a goal for the side. He struggled to lock down a place on the team outside 2006, however, and later said that "my unsuccessful attempts at the junior national teams [were] not as a result of poor performance".

Early career and AFCON tournaments

Afful made his debut for the senior national team at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. He had not been named in the 40-man preliminary squad but was called up to the final squad by coach Claude Le Roy. Afful earned his first cap on 9 February in the third place match, entering as an 89th-minute substitute in the 4–2 victory over Ivory Coast. Although Le Roy resigned in May 2008, Afful continued to earn playing time under caretaker Sellas Tetteh and new manager Milovan Rajevac: he appeared 10 times in qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, helping the Black Stars qualify for the final tournament with games to spare. He was then called up to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, and although Ghana made a run to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations Final he did not make an appearance at the tournament. Afful was left off Ghana's squad for the 2010 World Cup, failing to even crack the Black Stars' preliminary roster. After appearing against South Africa in a friendly in August, Afful did not earn another cap for nearly two years.

Buildup to and the 2014 World Cup

Afful was recalled to the Black Stars in June 2012, as James…

Club

As of 4 January 2023

International

As of 18 November 2018

Born in Tema, Ghana, Afful grew up 23 kilometres (14 miles) away in Nungua. He used to watch the Ghana national team on television before becoming a professional footballer.