David Abagna Sandan (born 9 September 1998) is a

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 ...

professional footballer who plays 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 ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club APOEL and the Ghana national team. He previously played for Ghana Premier league sides Ashanti Gold, Wa All stars and

Real Tamale United Real Tamale United, often abbreviated as RTU, is a football club based in Tamale, Northern Region of Ghana. The team was relegated to the second tier Division One League in 2013. In 2021, RTU sealed promotion back to the first tier Ghana Premie ...

. He won his first league title in his debut season with Wa All Stars in 2016.

Career

Early life and career

Abagna was born in

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

in the Northern Region of Ghana. He started his career with

based team Zaytuna Babies. He later moved to

Wa All Stars FC Legon Cities FC (formerly known as Wa All Stars FC) is a Football team, football club from Ghana currently based in Accra, Ghana, Accra, Greater Accra Region, Greater Accra. The club won the 2016 Ghanaian Premier League. History The club was fou ...

in 2016 ahead of the 2016 Ghana premier league season.

Wa All stars

2016 season

Abagna moved from Zaytuna in 2016 to then

Ghana Premier League The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football league in Ghana organized by the Ghana Football Association and formed in 1958 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition which ran from 1933 ...

team Wa All stars now Legon Cities. He won the league in his debut season and was a member of the squad that won the

2016 Ghanaian Premier League The 2016 Ghanaian Premier League was the 60th season of top professional association football in Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He made his debut that season on 13 August 2018 against

Ebusua Dwarfs Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Cape Coast. The club competes in the Ghana Premier League, the Premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid, and holds home games at the Cape Coast Sports ...

being named on the starting line up for the match. He played 57 minutes and was later substituted for Samuel Atta Mensah. The match ended in a 1–0 home loss. He was named on 6 team sheets but made 4 appearances within the season as the club won the league title.

2017 season

In the 2017/18 season, Abagna made all 30 league appearances and scored 13 goals, making him joint 3rd top goalscorer along with Thomas Abbey of

Accra Hearts of Oak Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Hearts of Oak or just Hearts, is a professional sports team, sports club based in Accra (Greater Accra Region, Greater Accra), Ghana. Founded in 1911, the club is the oldest surviving ...

and

Ahmed Touré Ahmed Touré (born 17 July 1987) is a Burkinabé professional footballer, who currently plays for the Congolese club AS Vita as a striker. He also holds Ivorian nationality. Career Asante Kotoko Touré began his career with Ivorian club A ...

of Bechem United F.C., trailing by 4 goals to the top scorer Hans Kwofie of Ashanti Gold. He also featured in the

2017 CAF Champions League The 2017 CAF Champions League (officially the 2017 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 53rd edition of Africa's premier club association football, football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF ...

for the club. He also played a crucial role during the 2017 Ghana FA Cup by scoring 4 goals as his side reached the semi-finals before losing to Hearts of Oak. In January 2018, he was nominated for the 2017

SWAG Swag, SWAG, or Swagg may refer to: Terms and slang * Swag (motif) or festoon, a wreath or garland or a carving depicting foliage and ribbons ** Swag, fabric dressing for a window valance * Swag, stolen goods, in 1800s thieves cant * Swag (pr ...

Most Promising Star of the Year. In May 2018, he beats off competition from Ghanaian weightlifter Richmond Osafo to win the award.

2018 season

In the 2018 season, he made 9 league appearances and scored 2 goals before the league was abandoned due to the dissolution of the GFA in June 2018, as a result of the Anas Number 12 Expose. By the time he left the club, he had made 45 league appearances and scored 15 goals.

Ashanti Gold

In July 2019, he was signed by Ashanti Gold on a 3-year contract ahead of the

2019–20 Ghana Premier League The 2019–20 Ghana Premier League was the 64th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 28 December 2019. 18 teams compete in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, with ...

. He made 11 league appearances before the league was abandoned and later cancelled 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 ...

. He featured for the Obuasi-based club in the 2020–21 CAF Confederation Cup qualifying rounds match against Burkinabe club

Salitas FC Salimata et Taséré FC, known as Salitas FC, is a Burkinabé association football club, based in Ouagadougou. They were promoted to the Burkinabé Premier League after the 2016–17 season. They stayed up in their first season after promotion, th ...

. He scored a goal in the second leg of the match but Ashanti Gold lost 2–1. He scored a brace in the

2020–21 Ghana Premier League The 2020–21 Ghana Premier League is the 65th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 14 November 2020. 18 teams were competing in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, ...

on 19 February 2021, in a match against Aduana Stars, which eventually ended in a 4–0 win. Abagna played the 120 minutes of play in the FA Cup final at Accra Sports Stadium, but failed to convert his penalty in the eventual shootout loss.

Real Tamale United

In 2021, Abagna signed for childhood and hometown team

on a three-year deal with Ashanti Kotoko losing on securing his signature after they wrote to Ashanti Gold to express their interest in him. He started his career for the Tamale-based club on a high flying note, scoring five goals in his first three games. In the team's first premier league in seven years Abagna scored at home to help RTU draw 1–1 with Accra Great Olympics. He scored a brace in a 3–2 defeat away to Legon Cities FC before scoring another two goals on 14 November 2021, home encounter to help RTU clinch their first win against West Africa Football Academy (WAFA). On Sunday, 5 December 2021, Abagna, scored in stoppage time to give RTU a dramatic victory away from home against Berekum Chelsea at the Golden City Park in

Berekum Berekum, nicknamed "The Golden City", is a city and the capital of Berekum East Municipal in the Bono Region of Ghana. The city has a population of 62,364 as of 2012. The native language of the Berekum people is the Bono Twi. As of 2020 ...

. Before departing for the

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 ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, he scored 8 goals for RTU. In January 2023, Sudanese side Al Hilal completed the signing of Abagna on a four-year deal. Abagna's career was cut short, few months into his stay at Al Hilal following the advent of a civil war. The player returned home to Ghana and in March 2024, joined Moldovan side Petroclub on loan from Al Hilal. In ten league appearances, Abagna scored four goals for Petroclub. He helped the team to a domestic double winning both the league and the cup.

APOEL

In August 2024, APOEL Football Club in Cyprus announced that Abagna had signed a three-year deal with the club from Al Hilal. On 7 November 2024, Abagna scored APOEL's second goal in a 2–1 victory over

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

in the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

International career

In July 2017, at the age of 17 years, Abagna received a late call up into the

Ghana A' national football team The Ghana A' national football team is the local national football team of Ghana and is open only to indigenous domestic league players. The team represents Ghana at the WAFU Nations Cup and the African Nations Championship and is controlled by t ...

, ahead of the 2018 CHAN qualifiers.

Education

In 2018, Abagna enrolled in the

University for Development Studies The University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana, Tamale was established in 1992 as a multi-campus institution. It is the fifth public university to be established in Ghana. This deviates from the usual practice of having universities with c ...

, to pursue a

diploma in Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on the ...

Honours

Wa All Stars *

: 2016 * Ghana Super Cup: 2017 Petrocub Hîncești *

Moldovan Super Liga The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldova became independent ...

: 2023–24 * Moldovan Cup 2023–24 APOEL *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2024 Individual *

Most Promising Star of the Year: 2017 *

Ghana FA Cup The Ghana FA Cup, currently known as the MTN Group, MTN FA Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the annual single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in football in Ghana, Ghanaian football created in 1958, a year after the independence of ...

Most Promising Player: 2017

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abagna, David Living people 1998 births Legon Cities FC players Ghanaian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ashanti Gold S.C. players Footballers from Tamale, Ghana Ghana Premier League players Ghana men's international footballers Real Tamale United players Ghana men's A' international footballers 2022 African Nations Championship players Al Hilal Club (Omdurman) players Expatriate men's footballers in Sudan Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sudan Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen