Gershon Koffie (born 25 August 1991) is a Ghanaian 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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Israeli club

Maccabi Herzliya Maccabi Herzliya F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Herzliya'') is an Israeli football club based in Herzliya. The club is currently in Liga Leumit and plays at the Herzliya Municipal Stadium. History A football section of the Maccabi Herzliya ...

Club career

Youth career

Koffie grew up in the Ghanaian capital

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, and began his soccer career when he joined Rot-Weiss Accra - a development club affiliated with German club

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

- as a nine-year-old in 2000. He spent five years with Rot-Weiss Accra, before signing his first professional contract in 2006 with Ghanaian Division Two League team International Allies at the age of 15.

Senior career

Koffie played four full seasons with International Allies, scoring 28 goals in all competitions, before leaving the club in 2009 to try to secure a spot with a professional team in Europe. The Swedish side

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

was at a scouting trip in Ghana when Koffie broke his leg. Hammarby helped him with the operation and the rehabilitation in Sweden. Later on he trained with the Danish club

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().Tom Soehn Tom Soehn (born April 15, 1966) is an American soccer coach who was the head coach of USL Championship club Birmingham Legion. A former player, his career as a defender spanned seven clubs across 12 seasons, both indoors and outdoors. Playi ...

at a tournament in Ghana six months previously, Koffie relocated to Canada in 2010, and subsequently signed with the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

of the

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

. He made his Whitecaps debut on 5 September 2010, in a 0–0 tie with the

Puerto Rico Islanders The Puerto Rico Islanders were a professional association football team based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. They played in several different leagues from 2004 to 2012, when they suspended operations. In their last two seasons they played in the Nort ...

. On 9 February 2011, he signed a new contract for the

2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 16th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 33rd with a national first-division league. This season marked the arrival of ...

with

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 7 August 2011, in a 4–2 win over Chicago Fire. He would later establish himself as a key player for Whitecaps FC, making a total of 133 appearances, and scoring on 9 occasions. Before the

2016 MLS season The 2016 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season began on March 6 and ended on October 23. The playoffs began on October 26 and ended on December 10. The defendin ...

Koffie was traded to

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

. The deal was confirmed on February 11, 2016, with Whitecaps FC getting general allocation money and targeted allocation money in exchange for the player. Vancouver were also to receive a percentage of any future transfer fee obtained by New England. Koffie would later move on to make 22 competitive league games for New England during the season. His stint at the club was plagued by injuries, but Koffie performed like a club

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

when healthy, covering acres of space in the middle of the park while constantly bullying attackers. On 15 January 2017, he moved to Europe for the first time in his career, signing a three-year deal with

in the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, the club he had rehabilitated with in 2009. He made his first and ultimately only appearance in Allsvenskan on 9 April, in a 1–1 home draw against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

. After failing to impress manager

Jakob Michelsen Jakob Saldern Stein Michelsen (born 30 September 1980) is a Danish football manager. He is currently the manager of Norwegian Eliteserien club HamKam. Jakob Michelsen was selected coach of the year in Denmark in 2015. He was the coach behind t ...

, Koffie was deemed surplus to requirements and got sent on a one year-loan to his former club

in May 2017. After playing 23 games with New England during the season, he returned to Hammarby before the start of the 2018 season. He made one appearance during the first half of the season, before leaving on a free transfer on 1 June 2018. Koffie and Hammarby cancelled the contract by mutual consent. On 10 June 2022, he signed with Israeli

Liga Leumit The Israeli Liga Leumit (, HaLiga HaLeumit, ) is the second division of the professional Israeli association football (soccer) league system. This second-tier league is placed directly below the Israeli Premier League. Structure There are 16 ...

club Ironi Tiberias.

International career

Koffie was called up to the Ghana under-20 national team national team for the first time in July 2010. He was named in Ghana's team for the

2011 African Youth Championship The 2011 African Youth Championship was a football tournament for the Under-20 level national teams in Africa. It was due to be held in Libya from 18 March to 1 April. Following political unrest in the region, CAF decided to postpone the tournam ...

, starting against

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

on 21 April 2011. He was substituted after an hour for James Bissue. He made a substitute appearance against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

on 24 April 2011, replacing Paul Aidoo in the 67th minute. Ghana were eliminated from the competition at the group stage finishing in third position behind Cameroon and

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, ...

Personal life

Koffie received his Canadian Permanent Residency in 2013, which qualifies him as a domestic player on Canadian clubs for MLS roster purposes. Koffie was married to Souadou Drame former Model and Miss Guinee North America 2013.

Honours

Vancouver Whitecaps FC *

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

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:Koffie, Gershon 1991 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Ghanaian men's footballers Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players New England Revolution players Hammarby Fotboll players Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. players Indy Eleven players Sandecja Nowy Sącz players Ironi Tiberias F.C. players Maccabi Herzliya F.C. players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Major League Soccer players Allsvenskan players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players I liga players Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Poland 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen