Ishmael Addo (born 30 July 1982) 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 striker. He is best known for his accomplishments during his career at Ghanaian side Hearts of Oak, but has also spent several years in France, Israel, Greece, Cyprus and India. A diminutive striker with an exceptional turn of pace, Addo's ability to score goals and demoralise the opposition has led to him earning the nickname "''baby-faced assassin''". Holding the record of overall top scorer in the history of the Ghanaian League (22 goals in a single season), he is considered to be one of the most talented strikers ever to grace the competition. At some point during his career, Addo was named in

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's top 100 prospects.

Club career

Addo started his professional football career at Ghana's Hearts of Oak in 1998, where he remained for four seasons, in three of which he finished the country's top scorer. During his spell with the club, he won the

2000 CAF Champions League The 2000 CAF Champions League was the 36th awarding of Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 4th prize under the CAF Champions League format. Hearts of Oak SC of Ghana d ...

and 2001 Super Cup, four Ghanaian League championships (1997–98, 1999, 2000, 2001) and two

Ghanaian FA Cup The Ghana FA Cup, currently known as the MTN FA Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the annual knockout competition in Ghanaian football created in 1958, a year after the independence of Ghana. Open to all Ghanaian football clubs, the competiti ...

s (1999, 2000). In his final playing year with Hearts of Oak, Addo broke the Ghanaian League season top-scorer record with 22 goals, thus helping his side win the league and cup double. During that same season, he scored two late, controversial goals for Hearts of Oak to defeat arch-rivals

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional sports, professional association football, football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''African crested ...

2–1, in a match that was marred by the worst stadium disaster ever to take place in Africa. After an unsuccessful loan spell at French club

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastia (, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a French professional association football, football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football in France, ...

, Addo was signed by Israeli side

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. () is an Israeli professional football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. After winning their first championship in 1971, the club's golden period last ...

during the summer of 2002. He opened his account for his new club with a hat-trick in a cup game in his second start, and ended up scoring eight goals in 19 league appearances in his debut season. His second season with Maccabi Netanya did not go as smoothly, as he struggled to find the net during a difficult season for the club. His eventual tally of five goals were not enough to save the club from relegation. Addo had however already drawn the attention of Israeli club

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 ...

, joining the side in July 2004. He made an immediate impact at the start of the new season with a goal on his debut in a 2–1 win against Greek club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

during the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He went on to feature in all six UEFA Champions League group stage matches, without however scoring a goal. After struggling to establish himself in the Maccabi Tel Aviv first team, Addo was loaned out to

Greek Superleague 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

Ergotelis Ergotelis Football Club () is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, Crete, which competes in the Heraklion Football Clubs Association, FCA Heraklion A1, the fourth tier of the Greek football league system, ...

in January 2005 until the end of the season. He scored his only goal in 15 caps for the club on 20 February 2005, in a 2–1 victory over reigning champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. He then moved to Cyprus signing with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

side

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club (, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou''; ), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the first division, it holds home games at the Paralimni Municipal Stadium "Ta ...

, but after spending yet another season struggling, he decided to return to Ghana and his first club Hearts of Oak in October 2006. Addo spent the next two years at the Ghanaian League club adding one more Ghanaian League championship to his palmarès in 2007. He left Hearts of Oak in 2008 and signed with Indian top flight side

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in 2008, joining compatriot Yusif Yakubu at the club. He was released from his contract at the end of the season in 2009, after failing to impress the club, who fielded him as a midfielder, despite the fact he had proven to be more efficient as a striker throughout his career. After spending the next two years without a club, Addo had a short stint with newly promoted Ghanaian Premier League side Wassaman United. He left the eventually relegated club in 2011 and was once again unattached until January 2015, when he signed with second-tier Ghanaian club Eleven Wonders.

International career

Addo was a key member of the Ghanaian U-17 team that reached the

FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

semifinals in

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. He won the golden boot award, scoring seven goals that helped

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 ...

to an impressive third-place finish. Addo made his

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debut in July 2000 at the age of 17, also managing to score his first goal against

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 ...

during the 2002 World Cup CAF qualification final round. He went on to have 9 appearances for the black stars.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Addo goal''.

Honours

Hearts of Oak * Ghanaian League: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007 *

: 1999, 2000 *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

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 ...

Ghana *

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 ...

runners-up:

Individual * FIFA U-17 World Championship Golden Boot:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

* Ghanaian League top scorer: 1999, 2000, 2001 Records * Most goals scored in a Ghanaian League season: 22 goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Addo, Ishmael Living people 1982 births Footballers from Accra Ghanaian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ghana men's international footballers Ghana Premier League top scorers Ghana Premier League players Super League Greece players Ligue 1 players Israeli Premier League players Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. players SC Bastia players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Enosis Neon Paralimni FC players Ergotelis F.C. players East Bengal Club players Techiman Eleven Wonders FC players 2002 African Cup of Nations players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in France Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in France Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Greece CAF Champions League–winning players 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen