Kofi Ntiamoah Nimeley (born 11 December 1992) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

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 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 defender. He was part of the Swiss U-17 team that won the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

. After his retirement from his football career he became real estate agent.

Football career

Club

Nimeley initially started his youth football with local amateur club SV Muttenz, but soon moved to

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

's youth department. As Basel academy player, he rose regularly through the ranks. In the 2007–08 season he was member of the U-16 team that won the Swiss championship at that level, remaining undefeated throughout the entire season. In fact the team's last defeat had been in the 2004–05 season. Nimeley won the U-18 championship twice and broke into their U-21 team towards the end of the 2009–10 season. He made his debut for Basel U-21 on 21 April 2010 in a 4–1 home win against

SV Höngg Sportverein Höngg is a football club from Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Z ...

, coming on as a late substitute. He scored his first goal for the club on 12 March 2011 in a match against Grasshopper Club U-21 that ended in a 1–1 draw. He played with the team for three seasons. During this time he suffered an injury and perhaps this was also the reason that he was unable to break into the Basel first-team. Therefore Nimeley decided to move on. He transferred to

FC Locarno FC Locarno is a Swiss association football, football club based in Locarno in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. As of the 2019–20 season, Locarno play in the Swiss sixth level, 2. Liga (Switzerland), 2. Liga. His ...

, who at that time played in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

, in July 2013. He made his debut for Locarno on 14 July 2014 in a 1–0 home win against

FC Biel-Bienne FC Biel-Bienne is a Swiss 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 exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball ...

. But after two mixed years in

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

, he moved back to

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, to the Black Stars for one season. Too many injuries. Too much wrong advice. Too many wrong decisions.

International

Nimeley was a Swiss youth international, having competed from under-15 to under-20 level. He debuted for Swiss U-15 on 20 April 2007 and scored the team's only goal as they were beaten 4–1 by Germany U-15. Later, under head coach Dany Ryser, Nimeley debuted for the Swiss U-17 team on 26 March 2009, as the team played a 1–1 draw with Greece U-17. In May 2009, he then led the team as captain on two occasions, in the

2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since it was renamed from the original under-16 event, in 2001. Germany hosted the championship, during 6 to 18 May 2009, in thi ...

, first in the 3–1 win against Italy U-17 and then again in the 1–1 draw with Spain U-17, to advance from the group stage to the semi-finals. But here the Swiss were beaten by Netherlands U-21. In 2009, Nimeley was part of the Swiss under-17 team that won the

beating the host nation

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, ...

1–0 in the final. He played in five of the seven matches at the tournament and had been an integral part of the team in helping them to qualify. Despite featuring for Switzerland at various youth levels, Nimeley had also expressed an interest in representing Ghana at senior level.

Private life

Nimeley was born in

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 ...

, Ghana. He is the only son of his two sport interested parents. They first lived in Bubuashie, then moved to nearby

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

and the family moved to Switzerland in 1998. Young Nimeley first learnt the German language in a special school, then spent five years in the local primary school, before joining a sports school for one-and-a-half years and then he moved to an international school. Following his professional football, he worked in a call center because he could no longer make a living from football in the 1. Liga. He advanced to become the team leader of this call center and is head of the customer relationship management in a large real estate company. Nimeley is co-owner of ''Training 4U GmbH''.

Honours and titles

FIFA U-17 World Cup 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 ...

winner in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* Twice Swiss champion at U-16 level * Twice Swiss Cup winner at U-16 level * Twice Swiss champion at U-18 level

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Training 4U website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nimeley, Kofi Ntiamoah 1992 births Living people Footballers from Accra Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Ghanaian men's footballers Swiss people of Ghanaian descent Ghanaian emigrants to Switzerland Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders FC Basel players FC Locarno players FC Black Stars Basel players Swiss Challenge League players Footballers from Basel-Landschaft 21st-century Swiss sportsmen 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen