Godfred Karikari (; born 11 March 1985) is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Born in Ghana, he represented the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...

Early life

Karikari was born to an

affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

family in Ghana. He was a fast runner in his youth and was invited to join the school's track and field team, but he chose to play football instead. He was introduced to Hong Kong football by his manager and has not returned to Ghana since. His family members, whom he visits when he is on holiday, live in the United States and the United Kingdom today.

Club career

Early career

Karikari arrived in Hong Kong in 2002 and joined Fukien. In 2005, he moved to Rangers (HKG).

Happy Valley

Karikari moved to Happy Valley in January 2008. He scored 9 goals in the remainder of the season. Although the club decided to use a youth strategy for 2009–10 season, his contract was renewed. The club finished last of the 10 clubs in the season and Karikari left the club for TSW Pegasus.

Pegasus

Karikari joined

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

. On 11 September 2010, he scored 3 goals in TSW Pegasus' 5:1 victory over

HKFC Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC; ), established in 1886, is a private members' club in Hong Kong. The name reflects the origin as a club for playing association football and rugby. The club is situated in Happy Valley, with the sports pitches ...

. On 1 April 2011, he scored another hat-trick against

Tai Chung FC Resources Capital Football Club () is a Hong Kong Association football, football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong First Division League, Hong Kong First Division. It was known as Tai Chung Football Club () for the first 34 years of i ...

in a 7–1 win. In total, he scored 13 goals for TSW Pegasus in all local competitions in the 2010–11 season. In the 2011–12 season, Karikari continued his good form by scoring 6 goals in 3 games, including a hat-trick against

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

on 24 September 2011. He was voted Most Valuable Player of Month in September 2011 by the Hong Kong Sports Press Association.

Henan Jianye

On 13 June 2012, Karikari moved to mainland China and signed a contract with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side

Henan Jianye Henan Football Club (), currently known as Henan F.C. Jiuzu Dukang () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Zhengzhou, Henan, that competes in . Henan plays their home matches at the Hanghai Stadium, located wi ...

. He joined as a Hong Kong Chinese player and therefore not occupying any foreigners quotas of the club. He made his debut for Henan on 23 June, in a 0–0 away draw against

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

. His first goal for Henan came on 4 days later, which ensured Henan beat

Chongqing Lifan Chongqing Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai ...

2–0 in the third round of 2012 Chinese FA Cup.

Shenzhen Ruby

In February 2014, Karikari transferred to

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side Shenzhen Ruby.

Beijing Baxy

In July 2014, Karikari transferred to another

club Beijing Baxy.

Qingdao Huanghai

On 4 January 2016, Karikari signed by another

club Qingdao Huanghai.

R&F

After six years abroad, Karikari returned to Hong Kong's top flight, and signed with R&F on 19 January 2018. On 19 June 2019, head coach

Yeung Ching Kwong Yeung Ching Kwong (, born 7 May 1976) is a former Hong Kong professional footballer and a football coach. Managerial career Yeung worked previously as an assistant with Pegasus and South China. In 2015, he served as head coach of Eastern befo ...

announced that Karikari would not be retained.

Kitchee

On 5 February 2020, Karikari signed with another HKPL club

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won 12 List of Hong Kong football champion ...

. However, he failed to make any appearances during his spell at the club due to the spreading of Coronavirus which makes the HKPL being suspended from mid of March 2020. Karikari left the club after his contract expired in July 2020.

International career

Karikari spent more than seven years playing football in Hong Kong. He received his Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card on 7 February 2011. His lack of a Hong Kong SAR passport meant he was unable to be registered as a Hong Kong player in the

2011 AFC Cup The 2011 AFC Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Allocation of entries per association *2 teams qualified from eac ...

and was also unable to represent

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in international matches. Due to his late application, he didn't receive his passport to represent Hong Kong until November 2011. On 2 December, he was called up by caretaker Hong Kong coach

Liu Chun Fai Raymond Liu Chun Fai (; born 1956) is a football coach and former goalkeeper from Hong Kong. Club career In his player career, he played for Happy Valley AA, Happy Valley, Caroline Hill, Sea Bee, Eastern AA, Eastern, Harps, Seiko (football), Sei ...

for the 2012 Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup squad. Godfred Karikari scored on his debut for Hong Kong in the 2012 Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup as the match ended 2–2. On 11 April 2012, Hong Kong head coach

Ernie Merrick Ernest Merrick Order of Australia, OAM (born 15 January 1953) is a Scottish-Australian coach, who last managed A-League soccer club Newcastle Jets FC, Newcastle Jets. He was released on 6 January 2020. He was the former head coach of the Hong Ko ...

confirmed that Karikari's

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

change had been approved and he could represent the Football Association of Hong Kong. On 1 June 2012, Karikari made his international debut for

in a friendly match against

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Karikari scored his first international goal for

against

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

on 11 June 2015 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Career statistics

Club

:''Updated 5 February 2020''

International

:''Updated 15 October 2013''

International goals

:''Updated 5 October 2017''

Honours

Club

Henan Jianye *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

International

Hong Kong * Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

Godfred Karikari
at HKFA
Profile at TSW Pegasus FC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karikari, Godfred 1985 births Living people Footballers from Kumasi Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Hong Kong people of Ghanaian descent Ghanaian men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian emigrants to Hong Kong Men's association football forwards Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Chinese Super League players China League One players Happy Valley AA players Henan F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players Beijing Sport University F.C. players Qingdao F.C. players R&F (Hong Kong) players 21st-century Hong Kong sportsmen Kitchee SC players People with acquired permanent residency of Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Hong Kong expatriate men's footballers Hong Kong expatriate sportspeople in China Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen