Being an athlete is a great opportunity to get to know the world and many amazing people.
Those who are talented enough to come to great heights and reach great successes in their lives, are the ones who can truly seize these opportunities.
In today’s text we are going to talk about a famous Ghanaian football player Asamoah Gyan.
We are going to talk about his early years to see how he lived before his fame, and also about his career path to determine how this skilled football player came to be so successful.
Early years
Asamoah Gyan was born in Accra, Ghana, on November 22, 1985. He is the brother of soccer player Baffour Gyan.
There isn’t much information about his early years and childhood, but we do know that Asamoah grew up with his family and a brother who is also a football player.
As a young boy he loved playing sports like all the other children, but what set him apart was his amazing skills with the ball. His first serious appearance on the field was in 2003 when he started his career in a Ghanaian club called Liberty Professionals.
In total of 16 matches, he scored ten goals and was one of the most successful young players at the time. In 2008, he joined the Rennes and in 2010 the Sunderland club. In 2011 he became a part of the Al Ain club and joined the UAE ProLeague. At this point, he was already an established player and had a lot of experience behind him.
Since there isn’t a lot more info about his early years, we are going to talk more about his career and how he managed to reach the amount of fame he did, and also if he managed to keep himself on the top or not.
So, let us continue on with his career path and see how he actually became famous.
Career path
Asamoah Gyan is a Ghanaian footballer who plays as a striker in Al Ain of the First Division of the United Arab Emirates, after being traded by Sunderland A.F.C. English.
Gyan started his career in 2003 and played for minor clubs. It was there that he gathered enough confidence and practice, so he could easily continue on to larger football clubs.
He participated in the World Cups of 2006, 2010 and 2014 with the selected one of his country. With a total of six goals scored, he is the top African scorer in the history of the World Cups. Thanks to his speed, strength and great shot, he signed for Udinese Calcio in 2003.
The following year he was transferred to Modena FC, Series B, where he has been uncovered as a great scorer.
On August 31, 2010 a few hours after the closing of the transfer market signed by Sunderland A.F.C. English.
In 2010 he is one of the candidates to win the golden ball.
In the summer market of 2011, Sunderland was negotiating its exit to RCD Mallorca, due to its problems with the English team coach.
Later, Galatasaray joined the bidding, where he finally did not get his services. Finally, on September 10, 2011, Sunderland confirms the transfer of the player to Al Ain for a season, for a figure close to 6 million euros.
He has been international with the Ghana National Soccer Team. He debuted on November 19, 2003 against Somalia. In qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he played eight games in which he scored four goals.
Already in the group stage of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he scored a goal that opened the scoring against Czech Republic in minute 2 (Ghana finally won 0-2). The 2006 African Cup of Nations was lost due to injury.
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa he scored two penalty goals against Serbia and Australia respectively. In the round of 16 he would score again, this time against the United States, making the pass to the quarterfinals, where he would face Uruguay.
In the quarterfinals, he had the opportunity to give the pass to his team to the semifinals and thus become the African team that went farther in the history of the world.
At the end of the supplementary time, after an infraction committed by Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez to avoid an adversary goal by expelling the ball from his own goal with his hand, Gyan was selected to execute the penalty kick, which failed to crash it against the crossbar.
Then, the penalty shootout took place, where Uruguay would win by 4 to 2, despite Gyan becoming the first penalty for Ghana.
On May 12, 2014, Ghana’s national team coach Akwasi Appiah included Gyan on the preliminary list of 26 shortlisted players for the 2014 World Cup. Weeks later, on June 1, he was ratified on the list final of 23 players who will travel to Brazil. Gyan played the three games of Ghana in the tournament as a starter, scoring against Portugal and Germany.
However, the Black Stars would be eliminated in the first round.
There have been many rumors regarding his net worth and how much money he actually has right now. Despite all the rumors, his estimated net worth is around 23$ million.
Most of the money comes from his contracts with famous African football clubs, but also from his endorsements.
He is even listed as one of the richest people in Ghana right now, and his popularity doesn’t seem to be going away. In 2012, he got into boxing promotion and even arranged his boxing debut. The show took palace in Ghana and the second boxing show he organized was held in 2019.
In 2017 he received an Air Carrier Licence from the GCAA. The startup company has a name Baby Jet Airlines and he can begin with AOC certification drive. Asamoah took part in many different business opportunities. Some of his involvements are in the filtered water company, events and Logistics Company, mama vits noodles and rice, airline services, fuel station and many more.
Considering the fact that Asamoah has invested in so many different business opportunities, there is no way his net worth is going to decline as he gets older. It can only go up from here, even when he stops playing football.
Gyan owns a private jet, several expensive cars and a large mansion, so he definitely managed to secure his family a great lifestyle and himself a chance to live a calm and comfortable life even after football.
Personal life
Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan, who played in the Premier League, does not live his best moments. According to press reports, the player only has 600 pounds in his bank account, and can no longer support his family.
The striker, who played 37 games with the English Sunderland, who had signed him for 13 million pounds, currently plays in the Turkish club Kayserispor. Despite that, the 33-year-old Ghanaian does not receive his salary continuously, and has come to say that he has spent all the money he had earned throughout his professional career.
The Ghanaian captain left Sunderland on loan to Ain from the United Arab Emirates, with which he scored 123 goals in 120 games. Later, he went to the Chinese league, where he played in the Shanghai SIPG before returning to the Emirates to play in the Shabab Ahly Dubai.
After his time in the Shabab, he went to his current club, where he has not received his salary for many months, according to what he has said on the same site. In fact, several local media outlets indicate that Gyan cannot communicate with his wife, Gifty, and their three children since August, and stopped answering his calls due to the poor state of the player himself.
Gyan is one of the most important attackers of the Ghana national team, and has played with his country’s shirt in 106 games, in which he scored 51 points, and was one of the best of the generation of stars that reached the quarters in the 2010 World Cup final, the best achievement in the history of the African team.
There isn’t a lot of information regarding Gyan personal life either. He has been linked to many famous women over the years, but a lot of the stories turned out to be just rumors. He is now a family man and his goal in life is to retire from football at one point and focus on his business ventures.
Since he has been so successful at investments and different business opportunities, we can expect a lot more from him in the years to come. Unlike many other celebrities who spend their money foolishly, Gyan seems to have a good plan for the future.
Despite that, he still shares photos with his faithful fans on his social media accounts, about his lavish lifestyle and things he owns.
Quick summary
Full name: Asamoah Gyan
Date of birth: 22 November 1985
Birthplace: Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
Age: 34
Profession: Professional football player, entrepreneur
Height: 1.86 m
Weight: 77 kg
Net Worth: 23$ million