Joshua Boateng (born 2 January 1987) 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 footballer.

Career

Youth and amateur

Boateng attended Nkwatia Presbyterian School in his native Ghana, and played club football for the Accra-based Liberty Colts, before going to the United States in 2004 to attend college. He played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

and

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

, where he was named a member of the All-Big South First Team in 2007, and honoured as the Big South Player of the Year and was named to the

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Lou ...

Hermann Trophy Watch List for the best player in the NCAA in 2008. He was also an All American player. Prior to his senior year at Liberty University, Boateng trialed in Europe with French club

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and Spanish club Gimnastic, and was offered a contract but declined to sign in order to finish his collegiate career.

Professional

Boateng was chosen in the third round (33rd overall) of the

2009 MLS SuperDraft The 2009 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 15, 2009, in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the tenth annual Major League Soccer MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft. The first selection was owned by the expansion Seattle Sounders FC. Unlike previous years, ...

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

, and played four months but was not offered a contract due to problems with his international clearance from his amateur team in Ghana. Very skillful, and brilliant with the ball, he is very dangerous at the attacking line according to the former USA Men's National Team coach Bruce Arena. Once the problems were solved, he joined the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

franchise

Cleveland City Stars The Cleveland City Stars were an American professional soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2009. The club folde ...

in April, 2009 and became the leading scorer in the team and made his professional debut on April 18, 2009, in Cleveland's 2009 season-opening game against

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

., . Boateng was invited by Deportivo La Coruna in the top Spanish league. After playing there for one year he signed a lucrative contract with Leones Negros in the Mexican League. * He played with Leones Negros for the Bicentenario 2010–2012 season in Mexico. After knee surgery in Finland whilst playing for Haka FC in the Finish top flight, he was advised by doctors to stay away for a longer period.

International

Boateng has represented Ghana at U-17 and U-20 level.

References

External links

Cleveland City Stars bioLiberty bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boateng, Joshua Living people 1987 births Cleveland City Stars players USL First Division players Virginia Tech Hokies men's soccer players Ghanaian men's footballers Liberty Flames men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico LA Galaxy draft picks AC Oulu players Men's association football midfielders Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Finland 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen