Elvis Sakyi (born 24 November 1996) is a Ghanaian

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 plays 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. ...

for Liga 1 club

Persijap Jepara Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jepara, also known as Persijap is an Indonesian professional football club based in Jepara, Central Java. They are set to compete in the Liga 1 from the 2025–26 season, the top tier of Indonesian football after ...

. Sakyi is a graduate of Kumasi Anglican High School where he played in the school team before joining Ghanaian lower-tier side Cheetah FC. He has had stints in Malta playing for

Gżira United Gżira () is a town in the Eastern Region of Malta. It is located between Msida and Sliema, also bordering on Ta' Xbiex. It has a population of 11,699 as of January 2019. The word ''Gżira'' means "island" in Maltese, and the town is named ...

and Senglea Athletic. At the international level, he played for the

Ghana national under-17 football team The Ghana national U-17 football team, known as the Black Starlets, is the youngest team that represents Ghana in football. They are two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1995 and a two-time Runner-up in 1993 and 1 ...

Early life

Sakyi was born on 24 November 1996. He had his secondary school education at Kumasi Anglican High School where he played in the school's football team where he won several laurels including both the regional and national inter-schools championships.

Club career

Early career

Sakyi began his career at Ghanaian side Cheetah FC before signing for Turkish team

Istanbul Maltepespor İstanbul Maltepespor, often known as just Maltepespor, is a Turkish football club from the Istanbul district of Maltepe, Istanbul. They compete in the Turkish Regional Amateur League, the fifth level of the Turkish football league system T ...

in 2017 on a one-year deal. In 2016, the former Ghana U17 star underwent a trials at Turkish giants

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish football club located in Eskişehir. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division of Turkish football for 16 years until they were relegated. After being out of the Süper Lig for 12 years the ...

and

Yeni Malatyaspor Yeni Malatyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Malatya. The club plays in the TFF First League, which is the second tier of football in the country. History Founded in 1986 as Malatya Belediyespor. Its primary colo ...

before joining Maltepespor Kulubu. He failed to land a deal with Eskişehirspor due to an imposed transfer ban on the club. He went on and played in Northern Cyprus for

Gençler Birliği S.K. Gençler Birliği SK is a sports club based in Trikomo, Northern Cyprus. The club was founded in 1934 in Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of ...

based in

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

from 2018 to 2019.

Gżira United

On 25 July 2019, Sakyi secured a move to Maltese-based team

, where he featured for the club mainly during their

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

campaign. He made his debut after coming on in the 62nd minute for Ridwaru Adeyemo in the 2–0 loss against

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

during first leg of the first qualifying round. During the second leg, he was named on the starting line up, played until the 57th minute as they won the match by 3–1 to qualify on away goals to the next round for the first time in the club's history. He featured final 10 minutes in the first leg of the second qualifying round against Latvian side

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

which ended in a 4–0 loss to Gżira United but was absent during the second leg which ended in a 2–2 loss and 6–2 loss on aggregate and ended their Europa League journey. He terminated his contract with the club after two months.

Senglea Athletic

After playing for Gżira United for just two months, Sakyi was signed by fellow Maltese club Senglea Athletic on a one-year deal in August 2019 and was handed the number 6 jersey ahead of the 2019–20 season. On 23 August 2019, he made his debut and played the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw against

Sirens Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths. Places * Si ...

. He played 14 out of 20 league matches at the end of the season.

Maccabi Petah Tikva

Sakyi moved to

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 ...

side Maccabi Petah Tikva as a free-agent in August 2020 after his contract with Maltese Premier League team Senglea Athletic FC expired. He made his debut on 30 August 2020, in a 2–1 victory over

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

. He ended his first season playing 19 matches in all competitions, starting 16 of those matches.

Hapoel Afula F.C.

Sakyi moved to

Hapoel Afula F.C. Hapoel Afula is an Israeli football club based in Afula. The club is currently in Liga Leumit and plays at the Afula Illit Stadium. Their main rivals are Hapoel Asi Gilboa F.C., Hapoel Asi Gilboa. History The club was founded in 1924 in Beit Jan ...

for one season.

International career

Sakyi played for the

at the youth level.

References

External links