Gerald Asamoah

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Personal information
Gerald Asamoah
Gerald Asamoah in June 2005
Full name	Gerald Asamoah
Date of birth	October 3, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Mampong, Ghana
Nickname	Asa, Blondie, DJ Asa
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Schalke 04
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-1999 1999-	Hannover 96 FC Schalke 04	79 (29) 204 (32)
National team²
2001-	Germany	43 (6)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 October 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 6 September 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Gerald Asamoah (born October 3, 1978 in Mampong) is a Ghanaian-German football player.

Born in Ghana, Asamoah and his family emigrated to Germany in 1990. He played for Hannover 96 before moving to FC Schalke 04 in 1999. He made his debut for Germany in 2001, the first black player to ever play for the side (however, with Erwin Kostedde and Jimmy Hartwig, there were two previous German internationals who had one black and one white parent). He scored on his debut, and went on to play in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Asamoah suffers from a heart condition, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). In his case, the flesh lobe that separates the right and left heart chambers is extremely thick, which can cause an arrhythmic heartbeat. Whenever he participates in sports, a defibrillator is on standby near the pitch. With his wife Linda he has twins: Jaden and Jada (*26.2.2007).

[edit] Current status

He is currently recovering from a compound leg fracture suffered in Schalke 04's UEFA Cup defeat by AS Nancy. Asamoah was taken to hospital while the game was still underway and underwent surgery the same night. He broke both his tibia and fibula following a horrific looking tackle from Pape Diakhate. He is expected to be out for many months until he fully recovers.

	Germany squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Kahn \| 2 Linke \| 3 Rehmer \| 4 Baumann \| 5 Ramelow \| 6 Ziege \| 7 Neuville \| 8 Hamann \| 9 Jancker \| 10 Ricken \| 11 Klose \| 12 Lehmann \| 13 Ballack \| 14 Asamoah \| 15 Kehl \| 16 Jeremies \| 17 Bode \| 18 Böhme \| 19 Schneider \| 20 Bierhoff \| 21 Metzelder \| 22 Frings \| 23 Butt \| Coach: Völler

	Germany squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Lehmann \| 2 Jansen \| 3 Friedrich \| 4 Huth \| 5 Kehl \| 6 Nowotny \| 7 Schweinsteiger \| 8 Frings \| 9 Hanke \| 10 Neuville \| 11 Klose \| 12 Kahn \| 13 Ballack \| 14 Asamoah \| 15 Hitzlsperger \| 16 Lahm \| 17 Mertesacker \| 18 Borowski \| 19 Schneider \| 20 Podolski \| 21 Metzelder \| 22 Odonkor \| 23 Hildebrand \| Coach: Klinsmann

FC Schalke 04 - Current Squad
3 Kobiashvili \| 5 Bordon \| 6 Hamit Altıntop \| 7 Varela \| 8 Ernst \| 9 Larsen \| 10 Lincoln \| 11 Løvenkrands \| 14 Asamoah \| 16 Rodríguez \| 17 Özil \| 18 Rafinha \| 19 Halil Altıntop \| 20 Krstajić \| 22 Kurányi \| 24 Pander \| 25 Bajramović \| 26 Bungert \| 27 Hoogland \| 29 Neuer \| 31 Boenisch \| 33 Laumann