Richard Kingson with Ghana |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Paul Franck Kingson | ||
| Date of birth | 13 June 1978 | ||
| Place of birth | Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) [1] | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1995–1996 | Great Olympics | 0 | (0) |
| 1996–2005 | Galatasaray | 3 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | → Sakaryaspor (loan) | 21 | (0) |
| 1999–2001 | → Göztepe (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | → Antalyaspor (loan) | 15 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | → Elazığspor (loan) | 20 | (0) |
| 2005–2007 | Ankaraspor | 4 | (0) |
| 2007 | → Hammarby (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Birmingham City | 1 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Wigan Athletic | 4 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Blackpool | 20 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1996– | Ghana | 90 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 June 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Richard Paul Franck Kingson (born 13 June 1978 in Accra) is a Ghanaian-Turkish professional football goalkeeper, who is currently a free agent. He is also known as Faruk Gürsoy[2] and is frequently misnamed Kingston due to "irregularity on his identity documents".[3] After leaving his native Ghana, he played for several clubs in Turkey, for Hammarby in Sweden, and in England for Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool, who released him at the end of the 2010–11 season.
Kingson was the vice-captain for the Ghana national football team and is the most capped player for the national team with 90 caps. He holds both a Ghanaian passport and a Turkish passport.
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Kingson left his native city in 1996 to pursue a career in Turkey, where he represented six different clubs, and became a naturalised citizen, taking a Turkish name, Faruk Gürsoy, coming from Faruk Süren and Ergun Gürsoy. His first club in Turkey was Galatasaray S.K., who he signed in December 1996 but he did not play a single game there. On 2004–05 season when he played with Galatasaray S.K. again, he was suspended from football for six months after a failed doping test.[4]
After a three month period on loan to Swedish club Hammarby IF, he drew attention from other clubs in Europe,[5] including Aalborg, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Birmingham City, eventually joining the latter. On 28 August 2007, Kingson made his debut for Birmingham in a League Cup third round tie against Hereford United. He played once in the Premier League, a 2–0 defeat to Portsmouth in caretaker manager Eric Black's only game in charge.[6] At the end of the season, co-owner David Sullivan blamed the club's relegation on the quality of previous manager Steve Bruce's signings, branding Kingson a "complete waste of space".[7] Kingson was disappointed and angered by the perceived unfairness of Sullivan's reaction, saying that "An older person, in his position, has to speak maturely. He has to be a responsible man as co-owner to speak well and set an example to younger people."[8] The player's contract, which still had one year to run, was cancelled by mutual consent at the end of the 2007–08 season.[9]
Kingson joined up with former manager Steve Bruce when he signed for Wigan Athletic on 12 September 2008. He was given the number 22 shirt, the same number as he wears for Ghana. He made his first-team debut in the FA Cup third round tie against Tottenham Hotspur, where his side lost 3–1. He made his first Premier League appearance for the club when he replaced the injured Chris Kirkland after 10 minutes of the away match against West Bromwich Albion on 9 May 2009. He saved a penalty from Chris Brunt, but Brunt was able to score from the rebound, and the game ended as a 3–1 defeat.[10]
He was released after his contract expired at Wigan at the end of the 2009–10 season[11]
Following his release by Wigan Athletic, he signed for Premier League newcomers Blackpool in September 2010.[12] He made his debut for the Seasiders in a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa on 10 November 2010. Following an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Matthew Gilks, Kingson had an extended run in the first team. On 26th May 2011, Kingson was released, along with several other Blackpool players.[13] After departing Blackpool, Kingson and El Hadji Diouf have started to train again with Wigan Athletic.
Kingson is the starting goalkeeper of the Ghana national football team, and was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
During the 2006 World Cup, the Ghanaian FA stated that his name is Kingston; however, the player's shirt used the correct spelling of his name, as confirmed by Kingson himself.[14]
He was voted as an All-Star Goalkeeper during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Tournament in Ghana. The Team of the Tournament was decided by the Technical Study Group (TSG) after careful observations of all the tournament's matches.[15]
In 2008, he scored a goal for Ghana in a friendly – a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Tanzania.[16]
As first-choice goalkeeper and team captain he was instrumental in leading Ghana to the final of the 2010 tournament, and was again selected for the all-star team along with Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary.
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Kingson was selected in Ghana's opening game against Serbia, who have Vladimir Stojković, Kingson's fellow goalkeeper at Wigan Athletic on goal at the other side, keeping a clean sheet in The Black Stars 1–0 victory. In his next game he made a mistake on the 11th minute to give the lead to Australia in the group game which finished 1–1. His final group game ended in a narrow 1–0 defeat to Germany, but the team still qualified for the knockout stages. In the match of 16 versus USA, he was voted Turkish Airlines Top of the Match after making several saves in the 2–1 extra time victory.[17] The team then moved on to the Quarter Finals, where a goal was prevented by Uruguayan player, Luis Suarez and which awarded Ghana a penalty kick. Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty kick and Ghana ultimately lost the game in a penalty shootout.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 20 August 2008 | Tanzania | Tanzania | 1–1 | Draw | Friendly | |||||
| Correct as of 21 October 2010 | |||||||||||
Ghana
Kingson is the brother of Laryea Kingston, who is also a member of the Ghana national team. He is a naturalised citizen of Turkey and his Turkish name is Faruk Gürsoy.[18] Kingson is married to Adelaide Tawiah. The ceremony took place in Ghana. Kingson's national team-mates Asamoah Gyan and John Paintsil were among the guests at the wedding.
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