Mahatma Osumanu Otoo (born 6 February 1992) 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 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 ...

. He was the 2012–13 Ghana Premier League top scorer with 20 goals. Otoo played for Sogndal from 2013 to 2017, scoring 31 goals in 93 appearances in all competitions. He won the 1.divisjon in

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 ...

whilst playing with the Norwegian side.

Early life

Otoo was born on 6 February 1992 in

Mamprobi Mamprobi is a town in the Accra Metropolitan district, a district of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It is located south of Lartebiokorshie, northeast of Old Dansoman and north of Chorkor Chorkor is a fishing village and neighbourhood in t ...

, a suburb of Ghana's capital Accra. He started playing juvenile football at the age of 10 for Ken Harrison Babes. He attended Ebenezer Secondary School located in Mamprobi for his secondary school education whilst playing for the school's football team.

Career

St. Mirren

Otoo began his career in the youth side for Sporting St. Mirren at the age of 16. He signed his first professional football contract with St. Mirren in 2007 when he was 16 and made an instant impact in the team. They were in the Ghana Division One League when he joined them in the 2007–08 season. His key striking abilities and performances qualified St. Mirren to the Premiership for the first time in the club's history. His brace against Fair Point on the final day of the league secured the Division One Zone III title and sealed their qualification. He was the club's top scorer and second top scorer in the National Division One league. When the team qualified to the GPL for the first time he was registered as one of their senior squad members when he was 16 years old on 30 October 2008. He earned the discovery player of the season award in the 2008–09 season after he won five man of the match awards and got 5 goals from 15 games for his club.

Hearts of Oak

Otoo signed for the 2009–2010 season with

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

on a 3-year deal. He finished his debut season with the club with 10 league goals in 19 matches and a consecutive individual title winning the Ghana Premier League's best player of the season. In September 2010, he moved to Tunisian club

Esperance Sportive de Tunis Esperance may refer to: * Esperance (town), New York * Esperance (village), New York * Esperance, Quartier Militaire (village), Quartier Militaire, Moka, Mauritius * Esperance, Washington * Esperance, Western Australia ** Goldfields–Espera ...

on a 4-month loan deal worth $150,000. He was initially set to join the club on a permanent deal for a deal worth $500,000 however it was renegotiated into a loan deal. His time at the side did not go as structured as he was pushed into the reserves side and only made one appearance for the senior side. However he had the opportunity of winning a silver medal when ES Tunis lost the

2010 CAF Champions league The 2010 CAF Champions League was the 46th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 14th edition under the current CAF Champions League format. The winner, TP Mazembe q ...

final to

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional association football, football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a ...

in late 2010. Mahatma Otoo returned to Hearts of Oak in the second round of the 2010–11 season, help the club finish 10th in the league. The following season, 2011–12, he scored 10 goals in the league. Otoo was made captain of side by

Charles Akonnor Charles Kwabla Akonnor (born 12 March 1974) is a Ghanaian football manager and former player who most recently managed the Ghana national team. A former midfielder, he spent most of his club career in Germany. He made 51 appearances for the Gha ...

because of his way of playing and fighting spirit. He scored a hat-trick, which was the first in 2012–13 season in the 5–2 win over

New Edubiase New Edubiase is a small town and is the capital of Adansi South, a district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Oce ...

. Otoo scored a brace against

Berekum Arsenal Berekum Arsenal Football Club is a Ghanaian football club based in Berekum in the Bono region of Ghana, about 30 minutes drive west from Sunyani. Founded in 1995, They are currently members of the Division One League. CAF Cup In 2006, the c ...

. Otoo renewed his contract with Accra Hearts of Oak for another season in May 2013. Otoo scored a hat-trick against

Tema Youth Tema Youth Football Club is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Tema, Greater Accra. The club competed in the 2017 Ghanaian Premier League, but got relegated at the end of the season. History Founded in 2005, TYSC are members of t ...

on the final game of the season and win the top scorer of

Ghana Premier League The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football league in Ghana organized by the Ghana Football Association and formed in 1958 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition which ran from 1933 ...

with 20 goals. At the end of the season, he was adjudged the Ghana Premier League best player for the second time and the SWAG Premier League player of the year.

Sogndal

His performance attracted European clubs, with

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

and

Sogndal Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

being front runners to land his signature. He moved to Sogndal on a three-year contract for a reported fee of 300,000 euros in the summer transfer window of 2013. On 18 October 2015, during the

2015 Norwegian First Division The 2015 1. divisjon (referred to as the OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football league season. The league was contested by 16 teams, and the top two teams were promoted to Tippeligaen, while the teams placed fro ...

, he scored a brace against

Hønefoss BK Hønefoss Ballklubb is a Norwegian football club from Hønefoss, founded in 1895. The club was a part of the multi-sports club L/F Hønefoss, which folded in 2008. After 11 years in 1. divisjon, the second tier of Norwegian football, Hønefoss ...

to help Sogndal win the 1.divisjon and gain promotion back into the Norwegian top flight at a canter, for the

2016 Tippeligaen The 2016 Tippeligaen was the 72nd completed season of top-tier Association football, football in Norway. The competition began on 11 March 2016. Due to the UEFA Euro 2016, 2016 UEFA European Championship, there was a break between the rounds play ...

after spending one season in the 1.divisjon. He ended the season as the club's second top goal scorer with 13 league goals and 15 goals in all competitions trailing only to

Kristian Opseth Kristian Fardal Opseth (born 6 January 1990) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a striker for Stabæk. Career Opseth started his career with Kaupanger before joining Førde. Sogndal He joined Sogndal in 2014, and made his debut in a 3– ...

who scored 16 league goals and 17 goals in all competition. He left the club on 1 January 2017.

International career

Youth

Otoo played formerly in the

Ghana national under-17 football team The Ghana national U-17 football team, known as the Black Starlets, is the youngest team that represents Ghana in football. They are two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1995 and a two-time Runner-up in 1993 and 1 ...

, he was later promoted to the

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 ...

in 2011. In September 2011, Otoo played for the Black Meteors of Ghana in the

2011 All-Africa Games The 10th All-Africa Games (), also known as Maputo 2010, took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent. Host awarding In April 20 ...

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. He was a top goalscorer of the tournament with 4 goals in 4 games helping Ghana to gold by scoring

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the final. In March 2013, Otoo was called up to the

Ghana national football team The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international Association football, football. The team is named the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the flag of Ghana. It is governed by the Ghana Football Association, t ...

by coach Kwesi Appiah. Appiah described him as a “special player”.

Senior

After his successful first season was called up for the

for the friendly game on 1 October 2009 against

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...

and played in the game to mark his international senior debut. In January 2015, he was named on the Ghana squad for the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was org ...

. He made one appearance after coming on in the 78th minute for

Jordan Ayew Jordan Pierre Ayew (born 11 September 1991) is a Ghanaian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger or Forward (association football), forward for club Leicester City F.C., Leicester Cit ...

in their second Group C match against Algeria. The match ended in a 1–0 victory for Ghana.

Personal life

On 4 March 2020, he lost his mother Love Habibatu Ankrah after battling with a short illness. Two days after her death, Otoo scored a goal in a match against Adanaspor and was seen crying and raising his hands to the skies and later going down in celebration whilst his teammates surrounded him to console him. He later took to both Twitter and Facebook to dedicate his goal to the memory of his late mother. He posted ''“I dedicate today’s goal to my mum, May Her Soul Rest In Peace.”''

Career statistics

Honours

St. Mirren * Ghana Division One League Zone III: 2007–08 ES Tunis *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

runner up:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Sogndal * 1.divisjon:

Ghana U23 *

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Individual *

Top scorer:

Discovery Player of the Season: 2008–09 *

Best player of the season: 2009–10, 2012–13 *

Top scorer:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

SWAG Swag, SWAG, or Swagg may refer to: Terms and slang * Swag (motif) or festoon, a wreath or garland or a carving depicting foliage and ribbons ** Swag, fabric dressing for a window valance * Swag, stolen goods, in 1800s thieves cant * Swag (pr ...

GPL Player of the Year:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Otoo, Mahatma 1992 births Footballers from Accra Living people Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Accra City Stars F.C. players Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. players Espérance Sportive de Tunis players Sogndal Fotball players Ümraniyespor footballers Balıkesirspor footballers Ghana Premier League players Ghana Premier League top scorers Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players TFF 1. Lig players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games gold medalists in football Footballers at the 2011 All-Africa Games Medalists at the 2011 All-Africa Games Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia Expatriate men's footballers in Tunisia Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen Division One League players