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Former Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan could not hold back his tears as he announced his retirement from professional football.
Gyan has been inactive for a few years now but up until now he had always maintained that he was still an active, professional footballer.
Speaking at the Afremximbank 30th Annual Meeting held at the Accra International Conference Centre on Tuesday, Gyan said the time had come to call it quits.
With tears in his eyes in the company of Ivory Coast football legend Didier Drogba, Gyan called time on his illustrious career.
He was hugged by Drogba who tried to console the emotional Ghana star.
Gyan, Ghana’s all-time top scorer, in a statement released on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, announced that he has closed his professional playing after 18 years.
“…I want to take this great opportunity, a stage that is difficult in every footballer’s career, a moment all footballers do not wish, but when nature dawns, that thin voice will keep echoing into the ears…IT IS TIME…that voice has been clear in my ears, and I have succumbed to it, IT IS TIME. IT IS TIME TO HANG THE JERSEY AND BOOTS IN GLORY as I retire officially from active football,” part of his statement reads.
Asamoah Gyan enjoyed a fruitful career that started at Liberty Professional in 2003 and ended at Legon Cities in 2021, when he last played active football.
He played for 11 different clubs, including Liberty, Udinese, Modena F.C, Stade Rennais, Sunderland, Al Ain FC, Shanghai Port F.C, Shabab Al Ahli Club, Kayserispor, NorthEast United FC, and Legon Cities.
Gyan is Ghana’s all-time leading scorer with 51 goals in 109 games during his international career.
He is one of Africa’s revered strikers, holding the record as Africa’s top scorer at the World Cup with 6 goals.
He scored Ghana’s first-ever goal at the World Cup in 2006 and scored the precious goal that sent the country to the quarter-final in 2010, becoming the third African nation to achieve the feat until Morocco bettered the record in the 2022 World Cup.
He played at seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, including two finals. Unfortunately, he lost both. He is Ghana’s second-top scorer at the AFCON with 8 goals.
Read his full statement below
