Kwame Otu (born 11 January 2002) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Youth career

Otu played for and is a product of the Dreams FC youth side Still Believe FC. He was promoted to the senior team in 2019.

Club career

In December 2019, Otu was promoted from the senior team in January 2019, ahead of the

2019–20 Ghana Premier League The 2019–20 Ghana Premier League was the 64th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 28 December 2019. 18 teams compete in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, with ...

season. On 5 January 2020, he made his debut in a 1–o victory over West African Football Academy (WAFA), coming on in the 57th minute for

Emmanuel Ocran Emmanuel Ocran (born February 19, 1996) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays for Gibraltar Football League side Manchester 62. Club career Emmanuel Ocran was part of the Wa All Stars team that won the 2016 Ghana Premier League. On 15 February ...

. He scored his On 27 January 2020, he scored his debut goal after scoring a consolation goal in the 90+ minute in a 2–1 loss to

Ebusua Dwarfs Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Cape Coast. The club competes in the Ghana Premier League, the Premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid, and holds home games at the Cape Coast Sports ...

. He went on and played 10 league matches and scored in 1 before the league was cancelled as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. With the league set to restart for the

2020–21 Ghana Premier League The 2020–21 Ghana Premier League is the 65th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 14 November 2020. 18 teams were competing in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, ...

season, he was named on the team's senior squad list. After playing for fellow Ghanaian side Vision FC in Ghana Division One, on 1 April 2024, Otu signed with Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

club SJK organisation. It was also announced that he will be loaned out to

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

club

Salon Palloilijat Salon Palloilijat (abbreviated SalPa) is a sports club from Salo in Finland. The club is popularly known as The Swans (''Joutsenlauma'' in Finnish). SalPa was formed in 1956 and their home ground is at the Salon Urheilupuisto. The men's foot ...

(SalPa) for the 2024 season. On 4 July 2024, Otu was further loaned out to Ykkösliiga club KTP. On 27 August, KTP exercised their purchase option and signed a permanent contract with Otu until the end of the 2026 season. KTP won the

2024 Ykkösliiga The 2024 Ykkösliiga was the inaugural season of Ykkösliiga, the new second highest football league in Finland. The season began on 13 April 2024 and ended on 19 October 2024. Teams Team changes The league was contested with 10 clubs, unlike fo ...

title and were promoted to top-tier

. His contract was terminated on 2 April 2025 due to prison sentence.

International career

Otu has made three appearances for the Ghana national team in the

2022 African Nations Championship The 2022 African Nations Championship, known as the 2022 CHAN for short and the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes, was the 7th edition of the biennial association football tournament organ ...

in January 2023.

Conviction of rape

On 11 February 2025, it was reported in Finnish media that a player of KTP was sidelined from the club's operations due to ongoing police investigation of a suspected crime. On 24 March 2025, it was reported that the suspected crime was

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

. On 2 April 2025, Otu was found guilty of rape by the Kymenlaakso district court and was given a 22-month probationary prison sentence and additional 60 hours of community service and a total fine of €5,500.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

KTP *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

KTP varmisti sarjanousun Veikkausliigaan

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, 6 October 2024

References

External links

* Living people 2002 births Men's association football forwards Ghanaian men's footballers Dreams F.C. players Ghana Premier League players Ghana men's A' international footballers 2022 African Nations Championship players Place of birth missing (living people) Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Finland SJK Akatemia players Salon Palloilijat players Ykkösliiga players Ghana men's international footballers Vision F.C. players Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat players 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen Division One League players Sportspeople convicted of crimes People convicted of rape Ghanaian criminals {{Ghana-footy-forward-stub