Seth Adonkor (30 October 1961 – 18 November 1984) was a French football player of

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

descent, who played as a defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was the half-brother of

Marcel Desailly Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, ...

, who later followed him to the

FC Nantes Atlantique Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as ...

. Adonkor made his debut for the 'Canaries' on 15 April 1981 in a 2–2 draw against Metz, but only established himself in

Jean-Claude Suaudeau Jean-Claude Georges Suaudeau (born 24 May 1938) is a French former professional football manager and player. He played as a midfielder with FC Nantes from 1963 to 1969 and then managed the youth teams from 1973 to 1982. From 1982 to 1988 and fro ...

's first team in the 1982–83 season, which his club finished as French champions, nearly adding the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

to their honours list – a game in which Adonkor was sent off. The 1982–83 championship was to be his only major honour. By trade a strong, hard-tackling midfielder who could also play in attack, Adonkor had become a 'rock' (in Suaudeau's words) in the heart of Nantes's defence when his career was cut brutally short. Driving back from

Saint Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

with his teammates Jean-Michel Labejof (who died) and Sidi Kabahe (who survived, but never played again), he was the victim of a fatal car crash. Adonkor was then widely tipped to become a French international. The news of Adonkor's death was passed on to Marcel Desailly by his close friend and teammate

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...

. Adonkor was Desailly's role model. Adonkor was an impressive centre back who was close to Marcel, when the news had broke Marcel was deeply saddened however was determined to make the rest of his career a tribute to his late half brother. Adonkor was hugely successful at FC Nantes academy and was tipped to be a regular starter in the team. However this was not to be with the events that had occurred in November 1984. Seth has always been remembered by FC Nantes fans as the one with a lot of promise but was taken too early.

Honours

;

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

: 1982–83

References

Stats
1961 births 1984 deaths French footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders FC Nantes players Ligue 1 players Road incident deaths in France Ghanaian emigrants to France Footballers from Accra Ga-Adangbe people French people of Ghanaian descent Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent Footballers from Nantes Ghanaian footballers {{france-footy-defender-1960s-stub