Joseph "Joja" Owusu Bempah (born 5 September 1995) 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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er.

Club career

Ghanaian Premier League

Born in

Offinso Offinso is a town in the Offinso Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The town is about fifteen minutes drive from Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region; due to Offinso's proximity to Kumasi, many of the Offinso natives have relocate ...

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in the southern part of Ghana and is the third largest of Regions of Ghana, 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of and making up 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the List of ...

, Bempah played with several clubs in his early years, including

King Faisal Babes King Faisal Football Club, nicknamed the Babes, is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. Owned by Kumasi's Muslim community and named after King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the Babes compete in Division One League, ...

Real Tamale United Real Tamale United, often abbreviated as RTU, is a football club based in Tamale, Northern Region of Ghana. The team was relegated to the second tier Division One League in 2013. In 2021, RTU sealed promotion back to the first tier Ghana Premie ...

and

New Edubiase United New Edubiase United Football Club are a Ghanaian professional association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusive ...

. He joined

Accra Hearts of Oak Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Hearts of Oak or just Hearts, is a professional sports team, sports club based in Accra (Greater Accra Region, Greater Accra), Ghana. Founded in 1911, the club is the oldest surviving ...

in 2012 and since the beginning of 2013 he became the first squad player. During the time he played with the club he was also awarded with a captain's armband. At the beginning of 2017, after the end of contract with his former club Hearts of Oak, he permanently moved to Bechem United as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, but shortly after he terminated the deal.

Move to Europe: Vojvodina

Bempah moved to the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

side

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

at the beginning of 2017, but due to administrative problems, he officially joined the club in May same year. He made his debut in 35 fixture of the 2016–17 season, replacing

Siniša Babić Siniša Babić ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Бабић; born 13 February 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Mladost Novi Sad. Club career Born in Novi Sad, Babić is a product of Vojvodina's youth school. After yo ...

in 84 minute of the match against Radnički Niš. On 7 June 2017, Bempah signed a three-year contract with the club. He scored his first goal for Vojvodina in opening match of the

2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga The 2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga was the twelfth season of the Serbian SuperLiga, Serbia's top football league. The season began on 21 July 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. FK Partizan were the defending champions from the previous season. Teams T ...

season for 1–0 win over Čukarički on 21 July 2017. Bempah also scored in the first match he started on the field, against

Radnik Surdulica FK Radnik Surdulica () is a professional football club based in Surdulica, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian First League, the second tier of the national league system. History The club was founded as Surdulički sportski klub (SSK) in 1926 on ...

next week. On 9 August 2017, Bempah scored in 2–0 away win against

Borac Čačak Borac may refer to: * FK Borac Banja Luka, a football club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** RK Borac Banja Luka, an affiliated team handball club ** OK Borac, an affiliated volleyball club * FK Borac Čačak, a football club from Čač ...

, helping Vojvodina to make 4th successive win and collect all 12 points at the beginning of the domestic competition in Serbia. At early December 2017, Bempah and Vojvodina mutually terminated the contract.

International career

Bempah captained

Ghana national under-20 football team Ghana national U-20 football team known as the ''Black Satellites'', is considered to be the feeder team for the Ghana national football team. They are the former 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup Champions and U-20 Africa Cup ...

at the

2015 African U-20 Championship The 2015 African U-20 Championship was the 20th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 20 and below. The tournament took place in Senegal between 8� ...

, where he won bronze medal, beating

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

for the third place on the tournament. Bempah was also a squad member at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

, where he capped on match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in a group stage.

Style of play

In early years of his career, Bempah has started playing football as a defender, mostly operating as a right side full-back being capable of playing left too. Beside the defensive skills, he has a great explosive power. Moving to the European football, Bempah has been mostly used as a defensive or central midfielder. Having a back-up role for a few months in his first matches with Vojvodina, he affirmed himself as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

. Bempah also capped as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

a couple of times before he became the regular member of Vojvodina's first squad as a

right winger 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. ...

. As one of the most successful goal poachers, Bempah scored in 3 of 4 games at the beginning

season.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Ghana U20 *

African U-20 Championship The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the U-20 AFCON and for sponsorship purposes as TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, previously known as the African Youth Championship and the African U-20 Championship, is the biennial int ...

bronze medal:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bempah, Joseph Owusu 1995 births Living people Footballers from Ashanti Region Men's association football utility players Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana Premier League players Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia FK Vojvodina players GFK Sloboda Užice players FK Proleter Novi Sad players FK Radnički Pirot players FK Borac Čačak players Ashanti Gold S.C. players Serbian SuperLiga players Serbian First League players Murciélagos F.C. footballers Liga MX players Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Real Tamale United players New Edubiase United F.C. players 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen