Eric Akoto (born 20 July 1980) is a naturalized Togolese former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in Ghana, he represented the Togo national team at international level.

Club career

Akoto was born in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Ghana. He started his career in Ghana, at

Liberty Professionals FC Liberty Professionals Football Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Dansoman, Accra. History Liberty Professionals was founded in 1996 by Accra-based businessmen Felix Ansong and Alhaji Sly Tetteh. The club was one of the earli ...

in 1998 before moving to Austria later that year to play for

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

. In 2002, he moved to

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German language in Europe, German-speaking countries, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vi ...

, before moving to Germany in 2004 to play for

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Erfurt, Thuringia. History Foundation to World War II The club has roots that go back to a cricket club founded in 1895. As they broadened their interests t ...

. On 1 June 2005, he returned to Austria to play for

VfB Admira Wacker Mödling Admira Wacker is an Austrian professional football club based in Maria Enzersdorf, a town in the Mödling District of Lower Austria. The team competes in the 2. Liga, the second tier of the Austrian football league system. The club was forme ...

. In 2006, he once again moved to

. In July 2007 he moved to Slovenia signing for

Interblock Ljubljana Nogometni klub IB 1975 Ljubljana, known simply as NK IB 1975 Ljubljana, is a Slovenian football club based in Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , ima ...

. In the January 2008

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Akoto went on trial with

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in England. He moved in July 2008 from Slovenian PrvaLiga Telekom Slovenije club, Interblock Ljubljana to

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

club

Kapfenberger SV Kapfenberger SV is an Austrian association football club from Kapfenberg, Styria. They won the 2007–08 Austrian Football First League and were promoted to the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1919 as ''Kapfenberger SC''. The nam ...

. In 2009, he moved to

Maccabi Ahi Nazareth Maccabi Akhi Nazareth Football Club (; ) is an Israeli football club based in Nazareth. The club is currently in the and plays at the Ilut Stadium in Ilut on the outskirts of the city. History The club was formed in 1968, and played in Liga ...

and later to

OFI Crete OFI Football Club (, ''Heraklion Sportsmen Club 1925 FC''), commonly referred to as OFI, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is part of the O.F.I. (sports club), OFI mul ...

. In July 2010, he signed with Australian

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club

North Queensland Fury FC Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from th ...

where he played as a central defender. In the Fury's round 3 match versus

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

, Akoto was red carded after an incident involving

Kevin Muscat Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973) is an Australian former association football player and he is the currently head coach of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port. As a player, he played as a defender, and represented the Australia n ...

, where the Victory defender would not let Akoto pick up his mouthguard and resulted in Akoto pushing Muscat to the ground. Despite the incident being regarded as controversial by many media commentators, North Queensland opted against contesting the mandatory one-week suspension. In December 2011, he signed for

Floriana FC Floriana Football Club is a Maltese professional football club in the town of Floriana that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. Considered one of the most supported and successful clubs in Maltese football, Floriana has won 26 national ...

International career

Born in the Ghanaian capital of

Akoto played for neighbouring Togo. He was part of the Togo national team's squad in the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

finals where Togo were knocked out of the competition in the group stages. He was on the

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

carrying the Togo team which was attacked by gunfire on 8 January 2010.

References

External links