John Paintsil

John Paintsil

Paintsil with Fulham in 2009
Personal information
Full nameJohn Paintsil
Date of birth15 June 1981
Place of birthBerekum, Brong-Ahafo, Ghana
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Playing positionFull back / Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Maritzburg United
Number5
Youth career
1997–1999Berekum Arsenal
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1999–2000Berekum Arsenal0(0)
2000–2001Liberty Professionals10(0)
2001–2002Berekum Arsenal12(1)
2002–2004Maccabi Tel Aviv46(0)
2004–2006Hapoel Tel Aviv46(4)
2006–2008West Ham United19(0)
2008–2011Fulham75(0)
2011–2012Leicester City6(0)
2012–2013Hapoel Tel Aviv9(0)
2013–2014Santos17(0)
2014–Maritzburg United0(0)
National team‡
2001–Ghana[2]88(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 March 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 February 2013

John Paintsil (born 15 June 1981 in Berekum) is a Ghanaian professional footballer, who plays in the South African Premier Soccer League for Maritzburg United and the Ghana national team.

His family name is Paintsil but at birth, it was registered as Pantsil. This then appeared on his passport and his registration with the Premier League.[3]

Club career

Early career

A player comfortable at right back or in midfield, Paintsil had stints in his native Ghana with Berekum Arsenal and Liberty Professionals and a brief spell with Polish side Widzew Łódź before moving to Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2002.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Pantsil joined Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2002, where he was a member of the team that won both the Israeli title and reached the Cup semi-final.[4] He made 46 league appearances[5] and five appearances in the Champions League.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

In December 2004, he transferred to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv[6] helping them to second place in the league in 2006[4] and to win the Israeli State Cup in May 2006.[7] He made 42 appearances for Hapoel, scoring three goals.[5]

Pantsil playing for West Ham United in 2008

West Ham United

After the 2006 World Cup, Israeli international Yossi Benayoun recommended Paintsil to West Ham United manager Alan Pardew as the Premier League club was in need of a right-back.[6] Pardew took Pantsil with the rest of the squad on their pre-season tour of Sweden and he featured in the matches out there putting in some impressive performances.[8] In August 2006, West Ham completed the signing of Paintsil after a work permit was granted.[9] Paintsil was given the number 14 shirt at West Ham and competed for a place in the side with Tyrone Mears and Jonathan Spector. He made only five appearances for West Ham during the 2006–07 season and in the summer of 2007 was weighing up his options in order to ensure his place in the Ghana national team for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.[10] However, the defender remained at West Ham and in July 2008, with the majority of his 24 games for West Ham being substitute appearances, Paintsil was given permission to speak to Fulham with a view to a move.

Fulham

Paintsil with Fulham in 2008

On 15 July 2008, Paintsil and teammate Bobby Zamora completed their moves to Fulham for a combined transfer fee of £6.3 million.[11] He became a first team regular during the 2008–09 season, helping the Cottagers to a record seventh place finish. His performances improved as the season progressed and he retained a regular starting place in the 2009–10 season. In June 2011 new Fulham manager Martin Jol announced that Pantsil had played his last game for Fulham and that he would not be returning for the 2011–12 season.[12] He was released by Fulham in June 2011.[13]

Leicester City

Paintsil playing for Leicester City

On 21 July 2011, Paintsil joined Leicester City on a free transfer.[14] He became manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's eighth signing of the summer. Paintsil was released by Leicester in May 2012 having made seven appearances in all competitions. He had made no appearances since the appointment of new Leicester manager, Nigel Pearson in November 2011 and had not played for Leicester since October 2011.[5][15]

Hapoel Tel Aviv

On 12 August 2012 Paintsil returned to Israel by signing at Hapoel Tel Aviv for one season.[16]

Santos

Paintsil joined Santos in the National First Division on 10 October 2013[17] after failing to agree terms with Premier Soccer League team Polokwane City.[18]

International career

Paintsil was a member of the Ghana Under 21 team who were runner-up in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina in 2001 and played for the senior team in the African Cup of Nations in Mali in 2002 and Egypt in 2006.[6] He was also a member of the Ghana 2004 Olympics football team who exited in the first round in Greece, having finished in third place in Group B. Paintsil played in all the matches of Ghana's national team in the 2006 World Cup finals, where Ghana were beaten by Brazil in the second round.[6]

Paintsil playing for Ghana, tackling Yuto Nagatomo of Japan

Following the first and second goals in Ghana's 2–0 victory over the Czech Republic on 17 June 2006, he celebrated by waving an Israeli flag, he also waved as the final whistle blew. This action provoked some protests in his native country Ghana and the Arab world.[19] Afterwards the Ghanaian Football Association issued an apology, and said of Pantsil "He was naive".[20] He was a member of the Ghanaian 2010 World Cup team that reached the quarter-finals in South Africa before losing to Uruguay.[21] He played in all five games. On 13 June 2010, in a World Cup group-stage match against Serbia, another variation of his name appeared on his jersey, Panstil.[22]

International appearances

Personal life

Paintsil's family has reportedly received repeated threats to their lives in Ghana. His younger brother Mark fled to Israel on a tourist visa. His visa expired and he was jailed whilst applying for political asylum pending immigration status decisions. According to Mark, the rest of the family is in Britain and cannot go back to Ghana. He was quoted as saying "I cannot return to Ghana because I truly fear for my life. My sister, after returning to Ghana, joined my brother and parents in London immediately, and now I am in prison and there is nothing I can do."[23] John is also famous for his lap of honor at home matches, he sometimes only wears one sleeve on his left arm in the winter, leaving his right arm bare by simply cutting off the other sleeve, the reason why is unknown.[24]

Honours

Player

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel Aviv

Fulham

Ghana

References

  1. ↑ "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Paintsil, John". National Football Teams. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Fulham's John Pantsil reveals secret life playing for Arsenal". People.co.uk. 18 January 2009. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Player Profile: John Pantsil, Ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Soccerbase: John Pantsil, Racing Post. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Player Profiles: John Pantsil, West Ham United Official site. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  7. ↑ Player Profile: John Paintsil, Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  8. ↑ '""Hammers happy with Paintsil", Sky Sports, 26 Jul 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  9. ↑ "Hammer Paintsil nets work permit", BBC Sport, 9 August 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  10. ↑ "West Ham's Pantsil eyeing exit", BBC Sport, 22 June 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  11. ↑ "Zamora & Pantsil sign for Fulham". BBC Sport. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  12. ↑ "John Pantsil will not return to Fulham - Jol". MTNFootball. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  13. ↑ "Players released". The Guardian. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  14. ↑ "Leicester City sign defender John Pantsil". BBC Football. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  15. ↑ "Pantsil leaves Leicester". www.lcfc.com. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  16. ↑ |It’s Exciting to Return to Hapoel Tel Aviv – John Paintsil
  17. ↑ "Paintsil Signs For Santos". Soccer Laduma. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  18. ↑ "Paintsil back at Santos". KickOff. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  19. ↑ "Fury in Egypt over Ghana's Israeli flag waver", Ynetnews, 19 June 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  20. ↑ "Apology follows Paintsil gesture", BBC Sport, 19 June 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  21. ↑ "World-Tearful Ghana rue last-gasp penalty drama". Fourfourtwo.com. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  22. ↑ "Fawzi Chaouchi is England's new No.1, Marcel Desailly 1 Big Ron Atkinson 0 and Milan Jovanovic is Rafa's Benitez's revenge on Liverpool: Top 10 things we learned from the World Cup today, Sunday June 13". MirrorFootball.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  23. ↑ "Ynet News. Israel jails brother of Ghanaian soccer player. Published 23 June 2010, accessed 23 June 2010". Ynetnews.com. 20 June 1995. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  24. ↑ "The unsolved World Cup mystery of Ghana’s "Pants" and sleeve". GHANAsoccernet.com. 22 June 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-03.

External links