Christian Kwesi Annan (; born 3 May 1978) is a former

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

-born

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 striker or

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is renowned in Hong Kong for his high pace and dribbling skill.

Club career

Eastern

Annan arrived in Hong Kong to continue his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

career in 2005. He arrived at a time when most clubs in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

had already finished their foreign player signings, and so he joined

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

, a Second Division club instead. With 14 goals in 11 matches, including a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

against

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

, Annan gained the attention of his then opponent. When Tai Po obtained their promotion status after the 2005–06 season, they signed Annan immediately.

Tai Po

Although he did not have the same impact in front of goal when compared to his time in the Second Division, Annan bagged 6 goals in 21 matches and became Tai Po's top scorer (along with defender Joel), helping the team avoid relegation. His performances were also thrown into the limelight with his selection into the

Hong Kong League XI The Hong Kong League XI, also known as the Hong Kong XI or Hong Kong League Selection, is a football team which represents the Hong Kong First Division League in exhibition matches, mainly the Lunar New Year Cup. The team is selected from the ...

for the Lunar New Year Cup 2007. With only a brief appearance in the first match against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, Annan started the next match against Australia U-23, was fouled in the box, gaining a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

for his team which ultimately tied the match (penalty scored by

Keith Gumbs Keith Jerome Kayamba Gumbs Tukijo (born 11 September 1972) is a Kittitian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Playing career Gumbs was born in Basseterre. He began playing football while he was attending the Newtown Prima ...

) in injury time. His contribution on Tai Po has been further rewarded: he was selected into the 2006–07 Squad of the Year in the

Hong Kong Footballer Awards The Hong Kong Top Footballers Awards (), established by the Hong Kong Football Association in 1978, recognizes the top performers for each season's Hong Kong Premier League. The prizes are decided according to the votes from mass media and the ...

. In season 2007–2008, Annan kept performing and being selected into the first squad of

for the Lunar New Year Cup 2008. He only dropped out of the final selection due to the overload of attacking players. He scored 7 goals in the season, being named the second top league scorer of the team along with striking partner Betine, behind Dega. In the 2011–12 season, on 18 September 2011, Annan appeared as a second-half substitute and scored twice against

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won 12 List of Hong Kong football champion ...

, but Tai Po still lost the game, 4–2.

Kitchee

On 9 June 2013, Annan joined Kitchee on a free transfer along with his former Tai Po strike partner

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...

. On 3 September 2013, Annan made his debut for Kitchee in a 6–2 victory against

Sun Hei Sun Hei Sports Club () is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Second Division. The club has a long history in playing in the top flight, but decided to self-relegate in the 2013–14 season after de ...

. On 19 October 2013, Annan scored his first goal for Kitchee by netting the winner in a 1–0 victory against

Yokohama FC Hong Kong Metro Gallery Football Club () is a Hong Kong football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Second Division. History The team began as Fourway Athletics (), it joined Hong Kong First Division in 2008–09 season as a competition mem ...

. On 12 July 2017, Annan was recalled from loan after he spent the 2016–17 season at

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

Hong Kong League XI

On 18 July 2010, Annan was selected into Hong Kong League Selection against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in the

Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the original Government Stadium, it reopened as Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994. It has a maximum seating capacity of 40,000, including 18,260 at the main level, 3,173 at ...

. He scored a goal in the match and was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the match. After the match, it was rumoured that the manager of

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

was interested in signing Annan.

Hoi King

On 20 August 2018, Annan was sent on loan to fellow HKPL side Hoi King.

Rangers

On 28 August 2019, Annan joined

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. He played 17 matches for Rangers during the 2019–20 season including league and cup games, before the HKPL was suspended from mid of March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Tai Po

In August 2021, Annan returned to

International career

On 12 February 2014, after residing in Hong Kong for more than 7 years, Annan was granted the HKSAR passport, making him eligible for the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...

. He made his international debut for Hong Kong in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Vietnam on 5 March 2014. He scored his first international goal for Hong Kong against

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

on 11 June 2015 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Honours

Club

;Tai Po *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only teams that play in the Hong K ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. T ...

: 2008–09 ;Kitchee *

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

: 2014–15, 2017–18 *

Hong Kong First Division The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia, after Calcutta and Bombay. Moreover, it is the oldest top-flight league system ...

: 2013–14 *

: 2014–15, 2017–18 *

Hong Kong Sapling Cup Hong Kong Sapling Cup (), currently known as JC Sapling Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong domestic football (soccer), football competition contested by the Hong Kong Premier League teams. The objective of the Cup is to provide more p ...

: 2017–18 *

Hong Kong League Cup Hong Kong Football Association League Cup () was an annual football competition contested by clubs in the top-tier Hong Kong domestic football league. The cup was relaunched for the 2014–15 season after being discontinued in the 2012–13 seaso ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16

Individual

* Hong Kong Top Footballers: 2006–07

Career statistics

Club

:''As of 12 July 2017''

International

:''As of 5 March 2014''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Hong Kong's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Annan's wife, Irene, is a Hong Konger. The couple have a daughter named Precious�
African soccer players flee war and poverty in search of a better life in Hong Kong
��, ''South China Morning Post'', 8 October 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Annan, Christian 1978 births Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Ghanaian emigrants to Hong Kong Men's association football forwards Eastern Sports Club footballers Tai Po FC players Kitchee SC players Hong Kong Pegasus FC players Hoi King SA players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Yuen Long FC players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong Asian Games footballers for Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI representative players