Peter Ofori-Quaye
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Peter Ofori-Quaye | ||
Personal information | ||
---|---|---|
Full name | Peter Ofori-Quaye | |
Date of birth | March 21, 1980 | |
Place of birth | Accra, Ghana | |
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |
Playing position | Forward | |
Club information | ||
Current club | Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. | |
Senior clubs1 | ||
Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
1995–1997 1997–2003 2004–2005 2005-2007 2007- |
Kalamata FC Olympiacos Liberty Professionals FC OFI Crete Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. |
34 (8) 80 (24) 9 (1) 45 (8) 18 (1) |
National team | ||
1998- | Ghana | |
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
Peter Ofori-Quaye (born March 21, 1980 in Accra) is a Ghanaian football striker currently playing for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C..
Ofori-Quaye has spent most of his career in the Greek division and has amassed 33 goals in his 10 seasons in the league. He came to Greece at the very young age of 15, signing for Kalamata FC during the Stavros Papadopoulos era of the club. The Papadopoulos era was noted for Kalamata bringing in talented players from the nation of Ghana, with Ofori-Quaye proving to be the most promising player ahead of fellow teammates Samuel Johnson, and Derek Boateng.
At 17, Ofori-Quaye signed for Greek champions Olympiakos CFP for a Kalamata FC club record of USD $3.5 million. Ofori-Quaye attracted much attention from outside clubs as he proved to be Olympiakos' young star, scoring key goals including those in the UEFA Champions League against the likes of Rosenborg BK, Olympique Lyonnais, and Deportivo La Coruna. In the middle of Olympiakos' coach changing crisis, Ofori-Quaye was released by the club in 2003. He won 6 Greek Championships with the Piraeus based club, 1 Hellenic Cup, and helped them reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League in 1998/99.
For a long while Ofori-Quaye's promising career did not recover. After 1 year away from football, he signed for Ghanaian club Liberty Professionals F.C. In 2005, he returned to Greece signing for OFI Crete where he began to hit good form and was recalled back to his national team. On July 2007 he joined recently promoted Israeli club Kiryat Shmona.
He was part of the Ghanaian 2000 African Nations Cup team, who exited in the quarter-finals after losing to South Africa. He also played at the 1997 and 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Ofori-Quaye is known as the youngest goal scorer in the UEFA Champions League. In the 1997-98 season he scored for Olympiacos when he was 17 years and 195 days old.
[edit] Clubs
- 1995-1997 : AO Kalamata
- 1997-2003 : Olympiacos
- 2004-2005 : Liberty Professionals
- 2005-2007 : OFI Crete
- 2007-present : Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C.