Nii Lamptey

Anderlecht

Lamptey played for the youth team Young Corners in Accra, 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 captain Stephen 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. He was hailed as the new Pelé and age limit rules in Belgium were changed to allow him to debut at the age of 16 for Anderlecht. His first season was a success, scoring 7 goals in 14 games. 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.

PSV Eindhoven

He was loaned to Eindhoven, and quickly established himself as a prolific scorer, and continued to impress, scoring 10 times in 22 games.

Aston Villa

Ron Atkinson brought Lamptey to Aston 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…

Youth

1991 U-17 World Cup

Lamptey first began to attract global attention in 1991. He led Ghana to win the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship with the team known as the Black Starlets after playing in the 1989 version as a 15-year-old. He won the FIFA Best Player of the tournament – the Golden Ball award in a competition that also included Argentina's Juan Sebastian Verón and Marcelo Gallardo and Italy's Alessandro del Piero, Lamptey's star shone more brilliantly than them all, as he dominated everyone in the competition. He was subsequently touted as the next Pelé; by Pelé himself. He scored four goals in that tournament. 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. The Adidas Golden Ball could only go to one of the members of the victorious Ghanaian side with Lamptey taking home the award from his Italian sojourn. According to a FIFA.com article, "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 midfielders Mohammed Gargo and Emmanuel 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." In recognition of his exquisite football he displayed at the FIFA U-17 Tournament, he was named the 1991 fifth best African Footballer of the…

On 19 February 2009 signed a contract as Assistant at Sekondi Wise Fighters; here he assisted the new Head Coach Charles Akonnor. He also owns a football academy at Abreshia near Elmina that he coaches at.

Lamptey married Gloria Appiah in 1993. The marriage was a controversial one, angering his brothers, as Appiah is Fante, while Lamptey is Gã-Dangme. He had five children, of whom two died to lung diseases. However, a DNA test revealed he was not the biological father of the remaining three children and he divorced Appiah. She 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. As of 2016, Lamptey is engaged to actress and model Ruweida Yakuba with whom he has two children. He has had a feud with Ghanaian star Abedi Pele, but refuses to disclose the reason.