Derek Owusu Boateng ( ; born 2 May 1983) 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

defensive midfielder 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. ...

. Born in Ghana, Boateng went on to play professional football in Greece, Sweden, Israel, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, England, and the United States during a career that spanned between 1999 and 2017. A full international between 2001 and 2013, he won 47

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Ghana national team and represented his country at the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Club career

Early career

Boateng 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 ...

Greater Accra The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the most populated region, with a popul ...

, where he played for the local side Liberty Professionals.

Greece

He signed for Kalamata F.C. in Greece when he was 16. In 2001, Boateng joined another

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club Panathinaikos. In 2002, Boateng was unable to keep his place in the Panathinaikos squad and was sent on loan 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 ...

AIK

He signed for AIK in August 2003. In the 2004 season, AIK was relegated from

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 ...

for the third time in the history of the club. In the following season, AIK gained promotion after winning the

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

, distancing runners-up

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football. For the 2025 Allsvenskan, 2025 season the club is back in the top tier, Allsve ...

by nine points. Boateng extended his contract with AIK for one more year until the end of 2007. When he left for Beitar Jerusalem, Boateng stated in an interview that he loves Sweden and AIK, and that he one day will come back to Allsvenskan and AIK the team he supports.

Beitar Jerusalem

In July 2006, Boateng signed with Beitar Jerusalem until January 2009. Boateng helped Beitar Jerusalem to win the league for the fifth time in their history, and for the first time for 10 years, contributing four goals in the campaign. The 2007–08 season started off poorly for Boateng, as he got sent off during Beitar Jerusalem's first official game of the season, in leg one of the second qualifying round for the

2007–08 UEFA Champions League The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League was the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club association football, football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. The 2008 UEFA Champion ...

, away to F.C. Copenhagen. Beitar Jerusalem lost 2–1 on aggregate and were eliminated. Boateng ended the season with another championship for Beitar Jerusalem. At the

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

final, Boateng missed a penalty in a thrilling penalty shootout against Hapoel Tel Aviv, but Beitar Jerusalem secured the title with a 5–4 win at the shootout, and secured an historical

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. The 2008–09 season started with yet another early elimination at the second qualification round for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, this time with a 5–0 away defeat to

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

, and 6–2 in aggregate. Whilst with Beitar, Boateng received financial backing whilst raising a lawsuit against his former agent.

Köln and Getafe

On 21 January 2009, Boateng signed a four-year contract with

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

. However, on 31 July 2009,

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

signed him from Köln for one million euros. He stayed at the Spanish club for just over two seasons, making 61 appearances and scoring two goals.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

On 20 June 2011, Boateng completed a move to Ukrainian club

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

, signing a four-year contract. For Dnipro Derek mostly played in the 2011–12, while the next season he was side benched by the head coach after playing the first couple of games for the first team. Later after playing some games for the reserve team, Boateng lost interest of playing for the club at all.

Fulham

In May 2013, Boateng confirmed that he had moved on a free transfer to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

on Ghanaian radio. He said, ''"I have signed a two-year deal with Fulham and will be training with them for the first time n Tuesday "I believe it's a good move and I'm finally happy to see this deal onfirmed"'' Fulham officially confirmed Boateng signed a one-year deal with an option for a further year on 22 May 2013. He featured in the 2013–14 English Premiership opener against Sunderland where he played only 65 minutes and was substituted by

Giorgos Karagounis Georgios Karagkounis (; born 6 March 1977), known as Giorgos Karagounis (), is a Greeks, Greek former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. In his club career, Karagounis played for Panathinaikos F.C., Pana ...

Rayo Vallecano and Eibar

After his contract with Fulham expired, Boateng decided to join Spanish club

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

on 3 June 2014. However, only two months later, he was deemed surplus to requirements by manager

Paco Jémez Francisco "Paco" Jémez Martín (born 18 April 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current manager of Ibiza. Over 11 seasons, he played 269 La Liga matches in representation of thre ...

, and rescinded his link with the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

outfit on 18 August. Hours after rescinding with Rayo, Boateng signed a one-year deal with fellow league club

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

. After leaving Eibar, Boateng returned to Beitar Jerusalem to train with them whilst looking for a move in the upcoming transfer window.

Rayo OKC

On 25 January 2016, Boateng signed with expansion side

Rayo OKC Rayo OKC, also known as Rayo Oklahoma City, was an American professional soccer team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the American soccer pyramid – beginning ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

OFI FC

On 30 January 2017, Boateng signed with

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

side OFI Crete F.C. till the end of the season. It is expected with his experience to help the club in his effort to be promoted in the

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

International career

While playing for Panathinaikos in 2001, Boateng also played for the Ghana national football team at the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, in which Ghana progressed to the final. After participating in a friendly with Ghana against French club

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. He made his first

appearance on 17 June 2006, when he replaced

Otto Addo Nana Otto Addo (born 9 June 1975) is a Ghanaian Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former association football player. He is the manager of the Ghana national football team, and previously worked as a talen ...

at half-time in the 2–0 win against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He was also selected for the national team for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, in which Ghana progressed to the quarter-finals.

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Honours

AIK *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Beitar Jerusalem *

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Ghana U20 *

runner-up:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Individual * 2007–08 Israeli Premier League Best Foreign Player of the Year

References

External links