Raphael Dwamena (12 September 1995 – 11 November 2023) was 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 played 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 ...

Club career

Early years

Born in

Nkawkaw Nkawkaw is a town in southern Ghana and is the capital of Kwahu West Municipal, an area in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. Nkawkaw has a 2013 settlement population of 61,785 people. Nkawkaw is also described as a city in a valley as it ...

, Dwamena played and trained with the Red Bull Ghana developmental program. He helped the RB Ghana U17 team to a silver medal at the 2013 International Tournament in

Croix Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

, France, and was named the player of the tournament. Before returning to Ghana, Dwamena and his teammate,

David Atanga David Atanga (born 25 December 1996) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Austrian club Wolfsberger AC. Club career Early career Atanga joined Red Bull Salzburg academy in 2014. In June 2015, Atanga signed new f ...

, first travelled to Austria for a one-week trial with Red Bull Salzburg. Dwamena joined the Salzburg youth team in January 2014, and immediately made an impact on the U18 squad. In one tournament in June, he racked up seven goals in four games. Although Salzburg finished in third, he won the Golden Shoe.

FC Liefering

In July 2014, Dwamena was promoted to

FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club, originally from Salzburg#Districts, Liefering, Salzburg. It currently plays in the Austrian Football Second League, Second League, the second tier of Austrian f ...

, the Salzburg

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

playing in the

Austrian Football First League The Second League (), commonly known as Admiral 2. Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. The division currently contains 16 teams, and the champion of the league is promoted to the Austr ...

. He made his professional debut on 18 July, where in the 82nd minute of a 3–0 win over

Hartberg Hartberg () is a city in Styria, Austria and the district seat of Hartberg-Fürstenfeld District. As of January 1st 2024, it has a population of 6,713 in an area of 21.58 km2. About 68 km up the A2 Autobahn is the large Styrian capital o ...

he was substituted in for Nikola Dovedan. He was one of six Liefering players making their professional debuts that day. He played in one more game that season. During the 2015–16 season, Dwamena made his first start for Liefering on 21 August against

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

. He played the 90 minutes in place of

Smail Prevljak Smail Prevljak (; born 10 May 1995) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a forward for 2. Bundesliga club Hertha BSC. Prevljak started his professional career at RB Leipzig, playing mainly in its reserve team. In 2014, he was loa ...

. On 18 September, in his fifth straight start, he scored his first professional goal. He scored in a 4–1 win over

Austria Klagenfurt Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, of which the capital Vienna is the most populous city and state. Austria is bordered by Ger ...

Austria Lustenau

Dwamena enjoyed a successful half-season with Austria Lustenau, scoring 18 goals in 20 games, before his transfer to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

FC Zürich

Raphael Dwamena completed a transfer to FC Zürich on 27 January 2017. He made an immediate impact at his new club by scoring 12 goals in 18 matches, helping Zürich to win the

2016–17 Swiss Challenge League The 2016–17 Swiss Challenge League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Brack.ch Challenge League, was the 14th season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier in the Swiss football pyramid. It began on 23 July 2016 and ended on 3 June 20 ...

and gain promotion to the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. On his Swiss Super League debut, Dwamena scored two goals against

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

. On 21 August 2017, Zürich agreed a fee with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

for the transfer of Dwamena. He was set to join Brighton subject to passing a medical, obtaining a work permit and international clearance, The deal fell through after Dwamena failed his medical due to a heart condition. He instead, remained an FC Zürich player.

Levante and loan to Zaragoza

On 7 August 2018, Dwamena signed a four-year contract with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

. The following 16 July, he was loaned out to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

for one year. In October 2019, after new examinations were carried out on his heart condition, the doctors recommended his immediate withdrawal and retirement from football. He returned with an

implantable cardioverter-defibrillator An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) is a device implantable inside the body, able to perform defibrillation, and depending on the type, cardioversion and pacing of the h ...

in January 2020.

Vejle

On 20 August 2020, Dwamena moved to

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six ...

in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

. He scored in his debut in the Superliga, as Vejle lost 4–2 to rivals AGF. He was withdrawn from team activities after complications of his heart condition were detected before a Superliga match against

AaB AAB, AaB or Aab may refer to: Aviation * Abelag Aviation in Belgium * Air Assault Badge, a United States Army military badge * Anti-aircraft battery, a weapons system component for anti-aircraft warfare * IATA airport code for Arrabury Airport ...

. At that point, he had made five league appearances for the newly promoted Superliga club and scored twice. Due to his heart condition and some worrying measurements, Vejle confirmed on 26 October 2020, that Dwamena could not play for a period. In November 2020, the club's sporting director stated that he had played his last game for the club.

Return to Austria

On 25 June 2021, Dwamena returned to Austria and signed a two-year contract with Blau-Weiß Linz. On 28 October 2021, he collapsed on the field during an

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

game against

TSV Hartberg TSV Hartberg, currently known as TSV Egger Glas Hartberg for sponsorship reasons, is an association football club based in Hartberg, Styria, Austria. Founded in 1946, the club competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the Aust ...

as the game was abandoned. He recovered in the hospital, and his career in Austria was over.

BSC Old Boys

During September 2022, Dwamena returned to football signing with Swiss fifth-tier side

BSC Old Boys Basler Sportclub Old Boys, commonly known as BSC Old Boys, Old Boys Basel or simply Old Boys or when written just OB, is a Swiss sports club based in Basel, Switzerland. The club is mainly known for its football but it also has track, swimming ...

. On 3 September 2022, he scored on his debut in a 2–1 win over FC Regensdorf.

Egnatia

In December 2022, Dwamena joined Albanian side Egnatia as a free agent. He signed a year and half contract which was later extended to two years. On 13 July 2023, Dwamena scored his first two goals in European competitions, scoring a brace for Egnatia in a 4-4 draw with

FC Ararat-Armenia FC Ararat-Armenia () is an Armenian professional football club based in Yerevan, founded in 2017. History It was founded in 2017 as FC Avan Academy by Ruben Hayrapetyan, on the basis of the young players of the Yerevan Football Academy gradua ...

in a

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

match.

International career

Dwamena did not play for the youth national teams of his country Ghana. He was called into the senior team as part of the 30-man squad for the 2017 African Cup of Nations but was dropped from the 23-man squad. Dwamena made his international debut on 11 June 2017 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia, where he scored a brace to mark the new era of youngsters being introduced into the national team.

Personal life

Dwamena was diagnosed with a

ventricular arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats ...

in 2017. In January 2020, while at

he had an

(ICD) implanted through surgery, which enabled his club to monitor his heart during matches. In October 2020, the ICD showed values which were considered too high, and his club at the time,

, withdrew him from team activities as a result. In October 2021, in

match during the first half of Blau-Weiss Linz's game against

, Dwamena collapsed on pitch, was shocked by the ICD and stabilized quickly.

Death

On 11 November 2023, Dwamena collapsed into sudden cardiac arrest on the field in the 23rd minute of the first half of the round 13 match between Egnatia and Partizani in the

Kategoria Superiore Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

, and died on the way to Kavajë Hospital, aged 28. Afterward, all sports events in Albania were postponed or suspended. His cardiologist later disclosed that he had elected to remove his ICD a year prior. He was laid to rest on 16 February 2024 on a football pitch 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.

Career statistics

Club

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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 Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, 2016–17 ,

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 ...

, 18, , 12, , 1, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 19, , 12 , - , 2017–18 ,

, 32, , 9, , 4, , 4, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 36, , 13 , - , 2018–19 , Swiss Super League , 1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 1, , 0 , - !colspan="2", Total !51!!21!!5!!4!!0!!0!!0!!0!!56!!25 , - , Levante , 2018–19 ,

, 12, , 0, , 3, , 1, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 15, , 1 , - ,

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, 2019–20 ,

, 9, , 2, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 9, , 2 , - ,

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality (''Municipalities of De ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 5, , 2, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 5, , 2 , - , Blau-Weiß Linz , 2021–22 , Austrian Second League , 3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 3, , 0 , - ,

, 2022–23 , 2. Liga Interregional , 11, , 8, , 0, , 0, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 11, , 8 , - , rowspan="3", Egnatia ,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 18, , 11, , 6, , 1, , colspan="2", –, , 0, , 0, , 24, , 12 , - , 2023–24 , Kategoria Superiore , 11, , 9, , 0, , 0, , 2, , 3, , 0, , 0, , 13, , 12 , - !colspan="2", Total !29!!20!!6!!1!!2!!3!!0!!0!!37!!24 , - !colspan="3", Career total !167!!77!!16!!9!!2!!3!!0!!0!!185!!89

International

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , + Appearances and goals by national team and year , - !National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals , - ,

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 ...

, 2017, , 3, , 2 , - !colspan="2", Total!!3!!2 :''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dwamena goal.'' {, class="wikitable sortable" , + List of international goals scored by Raphael Dwamena , - !scope="col", No. !scope="col", Date !scope="col", Venue !scope="col", Opponent !scope="col", Score !scope="col", Result !scope="col", Competition , - , style="text-align:center", 1 , , rowspan="2", 11 June 2017 , , rowspan="2",

Baba Yara Stadium Baba Yara Sports Stadium (also Kumasi Sports Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Kumasi, Ashanti. It is Ghana's largest stadium, with a seating capacity of 40,528. The Kumasi Stadium is used mostly for football matches, although it is also u ...

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

, Ghana , , rowspan="2", , , style="text-align:center", 4–0 , , rowspan="2" style="text-align:center", 5–0 , , rowspan="2",

2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's association footbal ...

, - , style="text-align:center", 2 , , style="text-align:center", 5–0

Honours

FC Zurich *

: 2016–17 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 2017–18 KF Egnatia *

: 2023–24 *

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwamena, Raphael 1995 births 2023 deaths Ghanaian men's footballers Ghana men's international footballers Men's association football forwards FC Liefering players SC Austria Lustenau players FC Zürich players Levante UD footballers Real Zaragoza players Vejle Boldklub players FC Blau-Weiß Linz players BSC Old Boys players KF Egnatia Rrogozhinë players 2. Liga (Austria) players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players La Liga players Danish Superliga players 2. Liga Interregional players Kategoria Superiore players Footballers from Eastern Region (Ghana) Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Association football players who died while playing 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen