David Accam (born 28 September 1990) 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 winger. He won 11 caps for the Ghana national team.

Club career

Ghana

Accam did not belong to a club during the first twelve years of his life. He instead spent his time playing with friends on gravel pitches in the parks of

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 ...

. There, he was spotted by a scout from Ghana-based

Right to Dream Academy Right to Dream is a youth association football academy system based in Ghana. It started in 1999 as a residential school and training center in Accra. It is owned by the Mansour Group. It is now a multi-club multi-academy group with branches i ...

, where he would spend four years.

England

In 2008, Accam received a three-year scholarship to study at Hartpury College in England. He combined his time there with playing in the English lower leagues. After signing for English club Ledbury Town, Accam scored on his debut in December 2009. He then played for English club Evesham United during the 2010–11 season while also featuring in the reserve team squad at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

. The fact that Accam was in England on a student

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prevented him from playing for their first team, or any club in a higher division. After his time at Evesham United he took part in the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

"The Chance" competition, where he was one of eight winners who got to spend the 2011–2012 season with

Nike Football Academy The Nike Football Academy was an English Youth system, football academy funded and administered by Nike, Inc. The academy had a revolving squad of unsigned under-20 players and was run with the intention of helping them find a professional club. T ...

Sweden

In March 2012, Accam signed for Swedish third tier side

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

. English manager

Graham Potter Graham Stephen Potter (born 20 May 1975) is an English professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager who is the head coach of Premier League club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. In a 13-year playing ...

was in charge of the club and he had already signed two other Ghanaians who were studying with Accam at Hartpury College. And after scouting him at the Nike Academy he brought Accam with him back to Sweden. Accam became an immediate success with his new team and several

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

clubs became interested in signing him for the summer

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 ...

. Accam was then signed by

club

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

in August 2012, and was due to be loaned back to Östersund for the remainder of the season, but was recalled by Helsingborg for an upcoming Champions League qualifying match against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. The 2 million SEK transfer fee paid by Helsingborg was the highest ever for a player from the Swedish third tier. After scoring seventeen goals in twenty-six appearances, the club announced that Accam would be leaving Helsingborg to pursue opportunities elsewhere. After he made the announcement, Accam was linked with a move away from Tigres,

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

and

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, a number of English clubs and

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. Accam rejected a move to CSKA Moscow, having insisted that Accam hadn't been in talks with the club.

Major League Soccer

Despite initially denying the move, Accam signed as a designated player with Chicago Fire of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

on 19 December 2014. After three seasons with Chicago, on 19 January 2018 Accam was traded to

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

in exchange for $900,000 in Targeted Allocation Money and $300,000 in General Allocation Money. In Accam's first season with Philadelphia, he was hampered by injuries and recorded just one goal in 23 appearances. His form picked up in his second season, scoring 4 goals with 2 assists in 11 games, however, he was traded to

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league. ...

on 8 May 2019. On 16 May, it was announced that Accam would be traded to

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

, effective 1 January 2020, and would play out the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

with the Crew. Following the 2021 season and his loan with Hammarby, Accam's contract option was declined by Nashville and he became a free agent.

Return to Sweden

On 28 January 2021, Accam joined Swedish side

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

on a 12-month loan with an option to transfer. He made his competitive debut for the side on 1 April against

Trelleborgs FF Trelleborgs Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Trelleborgs FF or simply Trelleborg, is a Swedish football club located in Trelleborg. Formed 6 December 1926, the club plays in Superettan, the second tier in the Swedish football league s ...

in the quarter-final of the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

, the main domestic cup. His side won 3–2

after extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Tie (draw), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is ...

, with Accam coming on as a substitute and scoring in his debut. On 30 May 2021, Accam won the 2020–21 Svenska Cupen with Hammarby IF, through a 5–4 win on penalties (0–0 after full-time) against

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

in the final, where he scored his attempt. At the end of the year, it was announced that Accam would leave the club at the expiration of his loan deal.

Finland

In August 2022, Accam signed with Finnish side

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded i ...

on a 4-month contract, with an option to extend it for an additional year.

International career

Accam received his first call-up to the Ghana national team for a

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match against

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

on 24 March 2013, in which he was an unused substitute. On 12 May 2014, Accam was named in a provisional 26-man squad in the 2014 World Cup by Ghana manager

James Kwesi Appiah James Kwesi Appiah (born 30 June 1960), also known as Akwasi Appiah, is a Ghanaian football coach and former player who played as a left back who is the head coach of Sudan national football team. Early life and education Appiah was born on 30 ...

. However, on 2 June 2014, Accam was left out of the World Cup squad. Accam expressed his disappointment of being dropped for the World Cup squad. On 15 November 2014, Accam made his international debut for Ghana in a 1–0 defeat to

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in a

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was org ...

qualifier, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute for Christian Atsu. He was selected as part of Ghana's preliminary squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Personal life

Accam received his U.S. green card in October 2015 which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes. Accam is a lifelong

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 ...

fan and is a devout

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. He married Ghanaian women's international footballer Florence Dadson on 3 January 2019 in Cape Coast, Ghana.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Helsingborg *

runner-up: 2013–14 Philadelphia Union *

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Hammarby IF *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Inter Turku *

Suomen Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in association football, football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europ ...

runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Ghana *

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 ...

runner-up:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Accam, David Living people 1990 births Ghanaian Christians Ghanaian men's footballers Footballers from Accra Men's association football wingers Right to Dream Academy players Ledbury Town F.C. players Evesham United F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Nike Academy players Östersunds FK players Helsingborgs IF players Chicago Fire FC players Philadelphia Union players Columbus Crew players Nashville SC players Hammarby Fotboll players FC Inter Turku players Southern Football League players Ettan Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Major League Soccer players Veikkausliiga players Ghana men's international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Designated Players (MLS) Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Finland 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen