Alexander Nyarko (born 15 October 1973) is a Ghanaian 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Nyarko started his career in Ghana, and in 1995 he joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

from Sportul Studenţesc. Nyarko joined

for their 1995–96 season under head coach

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...

. He played his debut for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

the

1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the first edition of the tournament administered by the UEFA. It saw Strasbourg and Bordeaux win their semi-finals to advance to the first round of the UEFA Cup, the latter eventually finishing runners-up. It also ...

match on 8 July 1995 as Basel were beaten 3–2 by

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. After playing one test game and another UEFA Intertoto Cup match, he played his domestic league debut for the team in the home game on 19 July as Basel won 2–1 against Sion. He scored his first goal for the team on 5 November in the away game in the

Cornaredo Stadium Cornaredo Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Lugano, Switzerland. It is used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. It is a home ground of FC Lugano. The stadium has a capacity of 6,330. During the 1954 FIFA World Cup, it hosted one g ...

against

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. It was the only goal of the game as Basel won 1–0. He played for the team for two seasons and during this time Nyarko played a total of 83 games for Basel scoring a total of 15 goals. 55 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, six in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, five in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

and 17 were friendly games. He scored eight goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, one in the UIC and the other four were scored during the test games. He then moved to Karlsruher SC in Germany and then two seasons for

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

in France. While at Lens he played as a substitute in the final as they won the 1998–99 Coupe de la Ligue. In 2000 he joined Everton for £4.5 million, signing a contract until June 2005. He scored his first and only goal for Everton against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2000. He is infamous for an incident during the 2000–01 season where during a game against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

a fan came on the pitch and offered him his own royal blue Everton shirt, signalling that Nyarko was not good enough to wear the colours of Everton. After the fan was escorted away by police, Nyarko requested to be substituted and transferred. Eventually, he went on loan to French club

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

just days later for the rest of the season, and then had a loan spell at

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

for the entire 2002–03 season. Nyarko returned to Everton for the 2003–04 season and made his return to the first team in a League Cup tie against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. A few days later he made his first league appearance of the season against Chelsea and almost gave Everton the lead but his shot came back off the crossbar. He went on to make 11 league appearances for the Merseyside club that season, but was released after the season because his work permit expired and could not be renewed. Nyarko then spent six months out of football, before joining

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start) is a Norwegian Association football, football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was ...

in March 2005. He was, however, released by the club after an unauthorized trip to his family in Switzerland. Nyarko joined Swiss team

Yverdon Sport FC Yverdon-Sport FC is a Swiss Association football, football club based in Yverdon-les-Bains that is set to compete in the Challenge League (Switzerland), Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football, after being relegated from the top-tier ...

in June 2006. He was released again in December 2007 and retired.

International career

Nyarko was capped for Ghanaian Olympic team at 1992 Summer Olympics, and won a bronze medal. He also played for Ghana in 1998 and 2000

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Honours

Lens *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 1998–99

References

External links