| Intro | Ghanaian footballer |
| Is |
Athlete Football player Association football player |
| From | Ghana |
| Type | Sports |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
29 November 1989, Accra |
| Age | 31 years |
Dominic Adiyiah (born 29 November 1989) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Thai League club Nakhon Ratchasima. Adiyiah comes from Offinso in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
Club career
Early career
Adiyiah began his football career at Feyenoord Ghana. He spent several years in Gomoa Fetteh, where the Academy is based, before transferring to Heart of Lions in 2007. After making his debut in the Ghana Premier League with the club based in Kpandu, at the end of the 2007–08 season he was named Most Exciting Player of the league.
Fredrikstad (2008–2010)
In August 2008, Adiyiah made the move to Europe, being signed by Norwegian top flight club Fredrikstad for a fee of only £100k (approx. €125k as of that date). He made his debut for the club in an away match against Aalesund, on 30 August. He went scoreless in four appearances during the 2008 season, as the team finished second in the league.
The following season he scored twice during the training camp, but has not scored in the four league matches he appeared. He also made his debut in the Europa League, in the second leg of the third qualifying round against Lech Poznań.
Milan (2010–2012)
In late October 2009, after impressing in the U-20 World Cup, Adiyiah was reported to be close to joining Serie A club Milan. Speculation increased as Fredrikstad announced they had received a bid €500k for the young striker from a big European club. The rumour was eventually confirmed by Milan CEO Adriano Galliani on 1 November, and six days later the Ghanaian signed his new contract, as he had passed routine medical examinations.
The move was ratified on 2 January 2010, the first day of the winter transfer window. However Adiyiah was still not able to play, since he was called up by the Ghana national team to take part in the African Nations Cup. Upon his return, a month later, he also secured an Italian work permit, which he was still lacking, thus becoming definitively eligible to play. Despite this, he was never selected by head coach Leonardo during the remainder of the 2009–10 season. On 25 June 2012, Adiyiah completed a three-year contract with Arsenal Kyiv, ending his three years career with AC Milan.
Partizan (loan)
Subsequently, Adiyiah was sent to Serbian SuperLiga club Partizan on another loan deal until the end of the season where he joined his national teammate Prince Tagoe.
Karşıyaka (loan)
In the 2011 summer transfer window he signed a loan-deal with Karşıyaka who play in Bank Asya 1. Lig, Turkey’s second-tier league.
Arsenal Kyiv (2012–2013)
However, in February 2012 he was called back from Karşıyaka, due to lack of playing time and loaned to Ukrainian Premier League side Arsenal Kyiv. On 25 June 2012, Adiyiah completed a three-year contract with Arsenal Kyiv, after spending three years with AC Milan.
Atyrau
In June 2014, Adiyiah signed for Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Atyrau.
Nakhon Ratchasima
In February 2015, Adiyiah signed for Thai Premier League side Nakhon Ratchasima F.C.. After a successful where Nakon Ratchasima reached 8th place Adiyiah announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of his contract. He latter changed his mind however and agreed to stay at Nakhon Ratchasima for another season.
International career
Ghana U-20
Adiyiah started to be called up by the Black Satellites in 2008, making his debut on 30 March, in a match against Niger, and also participating in the WAFU U-20 Championship. The following year, he was part of the squad that won the African Youth Championship. His successful 2009 was not over: in October, he took part also in the U-20 World Cup held in Egypt; as the team went on winning the trophy, he was awarded the Golden Shoe for the topscorer with 8 goals in 7 games and was also named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Ghana
Adiyiah earned his first call-up with the Black Stars on 3 November 2009, shortly after the U-20 triumph, for a World Cup qualification match against Mali, to be played on 15 November. However he was left as an unused substitute. He did make his senior debut three days later though, in a friendly against Angola. In January 2010, he was part of the Ghanaian team that reached the final at the African Nations Cup. Despite making only two substitute appearances, he showed glimpses of a player for the future.
In June of the same year, Adiyiah was called up to take part in the upcoming World Cup, to be played in South Africa. He made his debut in the competition during the last match of the group stage against Germany, coming off the bench for the final minutes. After being left as an unused substitute in the round of 16, he was sent on in the quarter-finals against Uruguay. In the very last minute of extra time, Adiyiah’s header was saved on the line by Uruguyan striker Luis Suárez, who palmed the ball away with both his hands, resulting in a penalty kick for Ghana and Suarez being sent off. However, Asamoah Gyan smashed the penalty against the bar and the game went to the shootout. Adiyiah took the fourth penalty with his team trailing 2–3, but had his shot saved; Sebastián Abreu seized the chance by subsequently scoring the deciding penalty for Uruguay.
International appearances and goals
| Dominic Adiyiah: Senior International appearances and goals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Goals in game/Total International goals | ||
| 1. | 18 November 2009 | Estádio Cidade Universitária, Luanda | Angola | 0–0 | Draw | Friendly | |||
| 2. | 5 January 2010 | Mavuso Sports Centre, Manzini | Malawi | 0–0 | Draw | Friendly | |||
| 3. | 19 January 2010 | Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda | Burkina Faso | 1–0 | Win | 2010 Africa Cup of Nations | |||
| 4. | 31 January 2010 | Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda | Egypt | 0–1 | Loss | 2010 Africa Cup of Nations | |||
| 5. | 1 June 2010 | Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam | Netherlands | 1–4 | Loss | Friendly | |||
| 6. | 5 June 2010 | Stadium mk, Milton Keynes | Latvia | 1–0 | Win | Friendly | |||
| 7. | 23 June 2010 | FNB Stadium, Johannesburg | Germany | 0–1 | Loss | 2010 FIFA World Cup | |||
| 8. | 2 July 2010 | FNB Stadium, Johannesburg | Uruguay | 1–1 | Draw | 2010 FIFA World Cup | |||
| 9. | 27 March 2011 | Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville | Congo | 2–0 | 3–0 | Win | 2012 CAF qualification | 1 | 1 |
| 10. | 29 March 2011 | Wembley Stadium, London | England | 1–1 | Draw | Friendly | |||
| 11. | 2 February 2011 | Antwerp, Belgium | Togo | 1–0 | 4–1 | Win | Friendly | 1 | 2 |
| 12. | 7 June 2011 | Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju | South Korea | 1–2 | Loss | Friendly | |||
| 13. | 5 September 2011 | Craven Cottage, London | Brazil | 0–1 | Loss | Friendly | |||
| 13. | 1 June 2012 | Kumasi Sports Stadium, Kumasi | Lesotho | 2–0 | 7–0 | Win | 2014 World Cup qualification | 2 | 3 |
| 4–0 | 4 | ||||||||
| 14. | 9 June 2012 | Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, Ndola | Zambia | 0–1 | Loss | 2014 World Cup qualification | |||
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Honours
Club
- Fredrikstad
- Tippeligaen Silver Medal: 2008
- Partizan
- Serbian SuperLiga: 2010–11
- Serbian Cup: 2010–11
Country
- Ghana U-20
- FIFA U-20 World Cup Gold Medal: 2009
- African Youth Championship Gold Medal: 2009
- Ghana
- Africa Cup of Nations Silver Medal: 2010
Individual
- Ghana Premier League Most Exciting Player: 2007–08
- FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Ball: 2009
- FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Shoe: 2009
- CAF Young Player of the Year: 2009
- Ghana Player of the year: 2010
- Karl Filip Singdahlsen (11 February 2008). “Sølvguttene fikk sine medaljer!”. FredrikstadFK.no (in Norwegian). Fredrikstad FK. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^
- “Drogba emerges African Player of the Year again”. CAFOnLine.com. CAF. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
Statistics
Club
- As of match played on 9 November 201.
| Team | Season | Domestic League |
Domestic Cup |
Continental Competition1 |
Other Tournaments2 |
Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Feyenoord Ghana | 2006–07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| Heart of Lions | 2007–08 | ? | ? | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 1 | ? | ? | |
| Fredrikstad | 2008 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Milan | 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |
| Reggina | 2010–11 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 15 | 2 | ||
| Partizan | 2011 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | ||
| Karşıyaka | 2011–12 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | ||
| Arsenal Kyiv | 2012 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 26 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 31 | 4 | ||
| 2013–14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 | 4 | ||
| Total | 40 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 8 | |
| Atyrau | 2014 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 1 | ||
| Career total | 89+ | 9+ | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 102+ | 12+ | |
1Continental competitions include the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
2Other tournaments include the GHALCA President’s Cup.
International
- As of match played on 9 June 2012.
| National team | Season | Apps | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana | 2009–10 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010–11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 18 | 4 | 0 | |