Stephen Appiah Biography, Family And Career

Steven Lory Appiah affectionately called Steven Tornado is a former professional Ghanaian player who played for Ghana Black Stars as a midfielder and captained the team during the 2006 world cup games.

Biography

Stephen Leroy Appiah was conceived on  December 24, 1980 in Accra, Ghana. He hailed from a humble background, and his rise to fame and success was encouraging. Steven began playing proficient Football at the age of 15 years when he joined Accra Hearts of Oak in 1995. The retired legendary footballer has been ranked to be among the most successful and wealthiest footballers of his time.

Family

Stephen Appiah is married to beautiful Hannah. They have four children together, a pretty girl and three boys.

Career

He is a Ghanaian retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic, and senior levels. He captained Ghana at their World Cup debut in 2006 and was a member of their squad for the 2010 World Cup.

In 1997, he moved abroad to join Italian Serie A side Udinese, where he initially played as a striker. He spent three seasons with the club. In 1999 his career was jeopardized by viral hepatitis  when he was transferred to Parma,  but Appiah got fit again in 2000. Haven spent two season at Parma, Appiah went on loan to Brescia for the 2002–03 season.
His success at Parma attracted defending Serie A champions Juventus to his talents. Juventus paid Parma €2 million in the summer of 2003 to secure Appiah’s services on loan, with an option to a permanent €6 million transfer in 2004.

For the first season at Juventus, he played in 30 Serie A games and appeared in the Coppa Italia final. In his second season at Juventus, Appiah played in 18 Serie A games. He was transferred from Juventus to Turkish giants Fenerbahçe for €8 million In July 2005. He went on to win the Turkish Super League Championship with the club in their centenary year.  Unfortunately for Appiah his left knee was injured while playing for the Black Stars in January 2007  and his operation delayed until end of the season.

At the end of the 2006–07 season, Appiah expressed a desire to leave and a German club made an offer of €4 million to Fenerbahçe, after Appiah’s agent contacted other clubs without Fenerbahçe’s permission. Fenerbahçe rejected the offer. Appiah was on trial with the London-based club Tottenham Hotspur in January 2009 with a view to a 6-month permanent contract.  However issues with his injured knee and fitness resulted in no contract being offered making Wilson Palacios from Wigan, an option Spurs took instead. The following month Appiah underwent a trial at Rubin Kazan, but the Russian champions decided against signing him because of same knee injury. Appiah remained a regular player with the Black Stars throughout the 2008–09 season. Steven Appiah retired from the Black Stars in 2010 but was still part of the team for 2014  World Cup in a non-playing capacity.