Zak Ansah
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Zak Andy Ansah (born 4 May 1994) is an English-born Ghanaian semi 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 for Forest Hill Park and is dual-registered with AFC Whyteleafe.


Club career

Ansah, the son of former
Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...
player Andy Ansah, had spells with Sydenham Sports club and
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...
before joining the academy at
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
at the age of 10, who beat off interest from several other London-based clubs including
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
and
AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...
. Ansah made his way through the club's youth system, making his debut for their under-18 side at the age of just 14 and later impressing in the NextGen Series youth competition. On 4 December 2012, with Arsenal already qualified for the next round of the competition, Ansah was named as a substitute for the club's Champions League group stage match against
Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...
but remained on the bench during a 2–1 defeat. He suffered a tear of his ACL in July 2013 that ruled him out for eight months, the second time he had suffered the injury, but returned to the development squad in March 2014, scoring in a 5–3 win over
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Ansah was released by Arsenal without making a first-team appearance. Ansah subsequently joined
Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...
side
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...
on a two-year deal, working with under-21 development manager
Jason Euell Jason Joseph Euell (born 6 February 1977) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as either a Forward (association football), forward or a midfielder. He spent much of his career playing in the Premier League, with ...
. In March 2015, he joined
Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...
side
Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...
until the end of the 2014–15 season, scoring on his debut for the club, the third goal in a 3–0 win over
Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...
. He then scored Plymouth Argyle's first goal of their League 2 Play-off tie with
Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...
at
Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in the area of Milehouse, Plymouth, Devon, England. With a capacity of 17,900, the ground has been the home of Plymouth Argyle Football Club since 1903, and was also used between 1900 and 1903 by Argyle Athlet ...
, his goal making the scoreline 3–1 in Wycombe's favour at the time. He made a total of 10 appearances for the club, scoring twice. In August 2015, Ansah returned to League Two, joining Newport County on an initial one-month loan deal, making his debut in a 3–2 defeat to
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...
. At the end of that loan period he returned to Charlton before rejoining Newport County for a second loan on 9 October 2015. On 24 October 2015 he scored his first two goals for Newport in a 4–1 win over Bristol Rovers. He returned to Charlton when his loan ended on 12 December 2015. On 3 August 2016, Ansah joined
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
-based side
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
for the 2016–17
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
season. Three days later, Ansah made his Woking debut in a 3–1 home defeat against Lincoln City, playing the full 90 minutes. On 9 August 2016, Ansah scored his first Woking goal in a 2–2 draw with
Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...
, netting Woking's second. After suffering a long-term knee injury in October 2016, Ansah was forced out of the Woking team until March 2017. Returning in the Cards' 2–1 defeat against
North Ferriby United North Ferriby United Association Football Club was a semi-professional football club in North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the time of their demise they were members of the Northern Premier League and played at Grange Lane. F ...
, replacing
Ismail Yakubu Ismail Salami Yakubu, (born 8 April 1985) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cinderford Town. He has been capped for the England semi-professional team. Club career Barnet Yakubu was born in Kano, Kano State, an ...
in the 73rd minute. On 23 May 2017, it was announced that Ansah would leave Woking upon the expiry of his current deal in June 2017. Following his release from Woking, Ansah had a spell in Sunday league football, before joining
Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...
Division One South side, Hythe Town. He went onto score twice on his Hythe debut during their league tie against East Grinstead Town, which resulted in a 3–2 victory. By March 2018, Ansah registered his tenth and eleventh goals of the season in the space of three months, inspiring a two-goal comeback against
Whyteleafe Whyteleafe is a village in the district of Tandridge, Surrey, England, with a few streets falling inside the London Borough of Croydon. The village, in a dry valley of the North Downs, has three railway stations (on two parallel lines). Neighbou ...
. Following the conclusion of the 2017–18 campaign, Ansah registered his tally to 20 goals, after netting thirteen times in ten consecutive games. On 6 June 2018, Ansah agreed a new one-year deal with Hythe. Despite interest from
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
and
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
sides, Ansah opted to join fellow Isthmian League side,
Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne, Kent, Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury loca ...
, while also playing for fast-growing Sunday league club SE Dons. On 17 November 2022, Ansah signed for
Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...
South East side Faversham Town. Four months later, he joined Welling Town of the
Southern Counties East League The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Its two divisions are allocated at Step 5 and Step 6 of the National League System (which equates ...
. In July 2024, Ansah made the step into the football pyramid with SE Dons following an agreement with Forest Hill Park.


International career

Ansah has represented England at both Under-16 and Under-17 level. In 2012, at the age of 18, Ansah was called up to the Ghana under-20 side for the first time but both Ansah and his father Andy blasted the
Ghana Football Association The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the sports governing body, governing body of association football in Ghana, based in the capital city, Accra. Founded in 1957 to replace the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast Football Association whi ...
stating that they had not been notified of the call-up and had discovered it after a family friend had messaged to congratulate him. Ansah later committed his international future to Ghana and, the following year, he was called up to the provisional under-20 training squad to train with a view to being included in the squad for the
2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...
but was later omitted from the final squad.


Career statistics


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ansah, Zak 1994 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People from Sidcup Arsenal F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Woking F.C. players Hythe Town F.C. players Herne Bay F.C. players Faversham Town F.C. players Welling Town F.C. players AFC Whyteleafe players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players English Sunday league players Southern Counties East Football League players Combined Counties Football League players Ghanaian men's footballers Men's association football forwards 21st-century Ghanaian sportsmen