George Blay (born 7 August 1980) is a

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 the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Blay was born on 7 August 1980 in

Elmina Elmina ( Fante: ''Edina'') is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region. It is situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Coast.Straight line distances ...

and started to play football at

Sekondi Hasaacas Sekondi Hasaacas FC is a Ghanaian professional association football club based in Sekondi-Takoradi. The club won the Ghana Premier League in 1977 and is currently participating in the Division One League, Ghana, Division One League following rele ...

. He went to play in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

for

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, making his

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

debut under coach

Aad de Mos Adriaan "Aad" de Mos (born 27 March 1947) is a Dutch retired professional football manager whose career spanned for almost thirty years. He has managed teams in his home country, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Greece, as well m ...

on 31 August 1997 in a 3–0 away victory against Germinal Ekeren. He scored his first league goal on 29 August 1998 when he closed the score in a 3–0 home win over

Eendracht Aalst SC Eendracht Aalst is a Belgian football club based in Aalst, East Flanders. The club currently play in Belgian Division 2 where they are the defending champions in their region. History During World War I, citizens from Aalst played footbal ...

. He spent a total of five seasons at Standard, reaching two

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

finals under the guidance of coach

Tomislav Ivić Tomislav Ivić (; 30 June 1933 – 24 June 2011) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. Often described as a brilliant strategist, Ivić is credited with helping develop the modern style of the game. In April 2007, Italian spor ...

, however both of them were lost. Blay afterwards went for one season at

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

and in 2003 he went to play for three seasons at La Louviére. On 30 April 2006, Blay made his last Belgian First Division appearance in La Louviére's 2–2 home draw against

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, having a total of 180 matches with three goals netted in the competition. In 2006, Blay was transferred in Romania at

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

, being recommended by his former Standard teammate,

Liviu Ciobotariu Liviu Ciobotariu (born 26 March 1971) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești. Club career Ciobotariu debuted in Divizia A with Progresul București in 1992. ...

, making his

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 30 July 2006 in a 2–1 away victory against Național București, being used in his first season spent at the club by coach

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

in 31 out of 34 rounds as the club won the title. He also appeared in 12 matches as the club reached the sixteenths-finals of the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club association football, football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla FC, Sevilla won their second consecu ...

where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica. In the following season '' The Red Dogs'' had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, Blay playing in both legs of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, which however was lost with 4–2 on aggregate. Afterwards he went to play for a short while at Internațional Curtea de Argeș, then he moved to

Unirea Urziceni Fotbal Club Unirea Urziceni, commonly known as Unirea Urziceni (), was a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County. Unirea became Divizia A Final Tables, national champions ...

where on 4 May 2011 he made his last Liga I appearance in a 2–1 home win against

Victoria Brănești Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, having a total of 80 games in the competition. In 2011 he returned to

and signed with

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

in the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

who bought him to replace Bart Van Zundert, retiring at the end of the 2011–12 season. Blay has a total of 25 games in which he scored one goal in European competitions (including three appearances in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

International career

Blay played for Ghana's under-20 national team, participating at the 1999 World Youth Championship where he made five appearances, helping the team reach the quarter-finals where they lost at the penalty kicks to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, who eventually won the competition. He played seven games and scored once for

, making his debut under coach Giuseppe Dossena on 8 April 2000 in a 1–0 away victory against

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers first round. His following game was a 5–0 home win over

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers second round and in his third game played he scored his only goal for the national team in a friendly which ended 1–1 against

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. He was selected by coach

Fred Osam-Duodu Frederick Osam-Duodu (4 June 1938 – 4 October 2016) was a Ghanaian coach and a FIFA Instructor. Osam Duodu served as Ghana national football team. Career A former Ghana national football team coach, he won the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, the ...

to be part of Ghana's squad from the

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Ca ...

, playing in all three games from the group stage, as the team qualified to the quarter-finals where he did not play in the 1–0 loss to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. On 17 May 2002, Blay made his last appearance for '' The Black Stars'' in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 loss to

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each George Blay goal.''

Honours

Standard Liège *

runner-up: 1998–99, 1999–00 Dinamo București *

: 2006–07 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

runner-up:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blay, George Living people 1980 births Men's association football fullbacks Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghana men's under-20 international footballers Ghana men's international footballers 2002 African Cup of Nations players Sekondi Hasaacas F.C. players Standard Liège players K.V. Mechelen players R.A.A. Louviéroise players FC Dinamo București players FC Internațional Curtea de Argeș players FC Unirea Urziceni players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Ghanaian emigrants to Belgium Challenger Pro League players Belgian Pro League players Liga I players Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Romania People from Elmina Footballers from Central Region (Ghana) 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen