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George Boateng

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George Boateng
Boateng playing for Middlesbrough in 2008
Personal information
Full name George Antwi Boateng[1]
Date of birth (1975-09-05) 5 September 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Nkawkaw, Ghana
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1995 Excelsior 9 (0)
1995–1997 Feyenoord 68 (1)
1997–1999 Coventry City 46 (5)
1999–2002 Aston Villa 103 (4)
2002–2008 Middlesbrough 182 (7)
2008–2010 Hull City 52 (1)
2010–2011 Skoda Xanthi 19 (2)
2011–2012 Nottingham Forest 5 (1)
2012–2013 T-Team 15 (2)
Total 499 (23)
International career
1995–1998 Netherlands U21 18 (0)
2001–2006 Netherlands 4 (0)
Managerial career
2014–2015 Kelantan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

George Antwi Boateng (born 5 September 1975) is a former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

After making his breakthrough with Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivisie, he spent most of his career in England, making 384 Premier League appearances and scoring 17 goals. He played for Coventry City, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Hull City, winning the Football League Cup with Middlesbrough in 2004.

Born in Ghana and raised in the Netherlands, Boateng made four appearances for the Netherlands national team.

Club career

[edit]

Feyenoord

[edit]

Boateng was born in Nkawkaw, Ghana. He spent some of his childhood in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where he chose to play football barefoot despite having boots and the pitches being rocky. He was raised in the Netherlands from the age of 10 after his father remarried. At 16 he signed for Feyenoord, where he was a utility player, being used in all positions except goalkeeper, left winger and centre forward.[2][3]

Coventry City

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Boateng watched a 4–3 game between Liverpool and Newcastle United in April 1996, which convinced him about the quality of English football.[2] With six months left of his Feyenoord contract and a four-year extension being offered, he completed a £250,000 move to Coventry City in December 1997. Manager Gordon Strachan signed him on a 31⁄2-year deal.[2] He scored his first goal for the Sky Blues on 2 May 1998, in a 2–0 home win over Blackburn Rovers.[4] On 27 February 1999, he and John Aloisi scored twice each in a 4–1 win away to fellow West Midlands club Aston Villa – his team's first ever league win at Villa Park.[5]

Aston Villa

[edit]

In July 1999, Boateng signed for Aston Villa for a £4.5 million fee. The club had previously bid £3 million after he had scored twice against them. Coventry chairman Bryan Richardson accused Villa manager John Gregory of making illegal approaches for Boateng. Gregory said that Richardson approached Villa to tell them that they could buy Boateng for £5 million, opening up negotiations again.[6]

Gregory played 131 matches for Villa, including the 2000 FA Cup final which his team lost by a single goal to Chelsea.[7] On 20 April 2002, away to Leicester City, opponent Paul Dickov's boot came off, and Boateng threw it into the crowd. He apologised for his actions and was warned by manager Graham Taylor.[8] Boateng missed only one game in 2001–02, but immediately requested a transfer once the season ended.[9]

Middlesbrough

[edit]

In the summer of 2002, a potential move to Liverpool collapsed, while negotiations with Fulham slowed down. Boateng moved to Middlesbrough for £5 million. He said that he was at first hesitant because he found Boro an easy team to play against, but he was convinced when Netherlands teammate Jaap Stam spoke highly of manager Steve McClaren, who had been assistant manager when Stam was at Manchester United.[10]

In November 2002, Boateng avoided action from the Football Association on two occasions after clashing with Gianfranco Zola of Chelsea and Nick Barmby of Leeds United.[11] He played in the 2004 Football League Cup final as Boro won the first major honour of their history.[12] On 16 October 2004, he scored his first goal since September 2001 in a 4–0 win at Blackburn.[13] In 2004–05, he missed 12 games through injury before returning to help the team to 7th place and UEFA Cup qualification.[14] He played in the 2006 UEFA Cup final, which his team lost 4–0 to Sevilla.[15]

In June 2006, after negotiations of nearly a year, Boateng signed a new three-year contract.[14] The following month, he was named captain after Gareth Southgate retired and became manager.[16] In the 2007–08 season, Southgate gave the captain's armband to Julio Arca in December and then Emmanuel Pogatetz in March, while saying that he wanted to move away from having one permanent captain.[17]

Hull City

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Newly promoted Premier League club Hull City announced on 10 July 2008 that Boateng had agreed to sign a two-year contract with them, for an undisclosed fee.[18] The move was completed on 16 July, after the completion of a medical, for an estimated fee of £1 million.[19]

On 6 February 2010, Boateng scored his first goal for Hull City in a 2–1 win over Manchester City, their first win since November 2009.[20]

Boateng's contract with Hull City came to an end following their relegation from the Premier League in 2010. He was runner-up to Stephen Hunt for their Player of the Year award.[21]

Later career

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After holding talks with Celtic,[22] Boateng joined Greek side Skoda Xanthi on a two-year deal in July 2010.[23]

On 27 July 2011, Boateng joined Nottingham Forest of the Football League Championship on a one-year deal. He reunited with former Middlesbrough manager McClaren, while former Dutch international and Middlesbrough teammate Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was first-team coach.[24] He played 7 games in total for Forest, scoring an added-time equaliser in a 2–2 draw with East Midlands rivals Leicester City on 20 August.[25]

On 15 November 2012, Boateng arrived in Malaysia to sign with T-Team.[26] Four days later, he signed a one-year contract, linking him again with former Hull teammate and Republic of Ireland international Caleb Folan.

International career

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Born in Ghana and raised in the Netherlands, Boateng represented the Netherlands at international level, having not been approached by the Ghana Football Association.[27] He was the captain of the under-21 team.[2]

Boateng played four senior games for the Netherlands, each in a friendly match in a different year.[28] He made his debut on 10 November 2001 in a 1–1 draw away to Denmark, playing the full 90 minutes.[29] On 12 November 2005, he ended 31⁄2 years without a cap by coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 home loss to Italy at the Amsterdam ArenA.[30]

Managerial career

[edit]

Kelantan

[edit]

In 2014, Boateng was unveiled as the new head coach of Kelantan, replacing Steve Darby, who had been shown the door after a 4–0 loss to Sime Darby[31] On 6 May 2014, Kelantan came back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 with Felda United in first leg of the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final in Boateng's first game as head coach.[32] Boateng apologised to the Kelantan fans after Kelantan were knocked out of the Malaysia Cup by Kedah with 4–3 aggregate; there were reports saying that he would step down from his role as Kelantan head coach the following season, but that proved to be wrong by Kelantan President, Annuar Musa.[33][34] He was moved to the Technical Director position on 24 March 2015, and his position as head coach was taken by Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah.[35] Boateng left his post as technical director of Kelantan on 11 May 2015 in order to work as a coach or manager again.

Blackburn Rovers

[edit]

On 5 September 2018, Boateng signed on as Under 13's head coach at Championship club Blackburn Rovers where he coached different age groups at the academy.[36]

Aston Villa

[edit]

On 29 July 2019, it was announced that Boateng had left Rovers to take up a position as Aston Villa Under-18 Professional Development Coach.[37]

In September 2020, Boateng was promoted to become the Professional Development Coach of the under 23 squad at Aston Villa.[38]

On 26 August 2022, Boateng announced that he would be leaving his role at Aston Villa in order to focus on his role with the Ghana national team in the build up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup that winter.[39]

Ghana national team

[edit]

In May 2022 the Ghana Football Association announced that Boateng would be the new assistant coach of Ghana national team.[40]

Coventry City

[edit]

On 1 July 2024, Boateng returned to another of his former clubs, being appointed first-team coach at Coventry City.[41]

On 28 November 2024, Boateng departed the club following the appointment of Frank Lampard as manager.[42]

Personal life

[edit]

Boateng is a devout Christian and says his faith affects the way he conducts himself.[43] In an interview with Church Times, he stated: "My family and I have become very devoted Christians. Hearing and acting on the Word is very important."[44]

Career statistics

[edit]

Club

[edit]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[45]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Excelsior 1994–95 Eerste Divisie 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Feyenoord 1995–96 Eredivisie 24 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 1
1996–97 Eredivisie 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 0
1997–98 Eredivisie 18 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 20 0
Total 68 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 70 1
Coventry City 1997–98 Premier League 14 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 19 1
1998–99 Premier League 32 4 3 1 3 1 0 0 38 6
Total 46 5 8 1 3 1 0 0 57 7
Aston Villa 1999–2000 Premier League 33 2 5 0 7 1 0 0 45 3
2000–01 Premier League 33 1 3 0 1 0 4 0 41 1
2001–02 Premier League 37 1 1 0 2 0 8 0 48 1
2002–03 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total 103 4 9 0 10 1 13 0 135 5
Middlesbrough 2002–03 Premier League 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 0
2003–04 Premier League 35 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 43 0
2004–05 Premier League 25 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 29 3
2005–06 Premier League 26 2 4 0 2 0 12 1 44 3
2006–07 Premier League 35 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 41 2
2007–08 Premier League 33 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 38 1
Total 182 7 15 1 10 0 16 1 223 9
Hull City 2008–09 Premier League 23 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 25 0
2009–10 Premier League 29 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 31 1
Total 52 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 56 1
Skoda Xanthi 2010–11 Greek Superleague 19 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 2
Nottingham Forest 2011–12 Championship 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 7 1
T-Team 2012–13 Malaysia Super League 15 2 5 2 0 0 0 0 20 4
Career total 499 23 41 4 25 1 31 1 596 29

Coaching statistics

[edit]
As of 24 March 2015[citation needed]
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Kelantan Malaysia 25 April 2014 24 March 2015 37 18 2 17 048.65

Honours

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Aston Villa

Middlesbrough

References

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  1. ^ "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Ghana (GHA)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 14. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Atkin, Ronald (14 August 1999). "Football: Boateng brings the Keane edge". The Independent. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  3. ^ Dasey, Jason (14 September 2015). "Ex-Dutch and Aston Villa star George Boateng eyes Malaysia coaching job". ESPN. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Premiership goal feast as Barnsley relegated". BBC Sport. 2 May 1998. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Deadly duo destroy Villa". BBC Sport. 27 February 1999. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  6. ^ White, Peter (21 July 1999). "Villa sign Boateng and then protest their innocence". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Chelsea claim FA Cup glory". BBC Sport. 20 May 2000. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  8. ^ "Boateng's boot apology". BBC Sport. 22 April 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  9. ^ Thomas, Russell (13 May 2002). "Taylor's task made tougher as Boateng makes waves". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  10. ^ Preece, Ashley (22 February 2021). "'This guy from Real Madrid' - Aston Villa man explains failed Liverpool move and his transfer to Middlesbrough". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  11. ^ "FA let Boateng off. Again". The Guardian. 28 November 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Boro lift Carling Cup". BBC Sport. 29 February 2004. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  13. ^ "Blackburn 0-4 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 16 October 2004. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Boateng delighted to secure Riverside deal". The Northern Echo. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Middlesbrough 0-4 Sevilla". BBC Sport. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  16. ^ "Boateng is made new Boro captain". BBC Sport. 21 July 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  17. ^ Tallentire, Philip (11 April 2008). "Southgate praise for Pogatetz leadership". Teesside Gazette. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  18. ^ "Hull agree contract with Boateng". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  19. ^ "Hull in triple swoop". The Independent. Press Association. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  20. ^ "Hull 2–1 Man City". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  21. ^ "Boateng - What an adventure". Sky Sports. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  22. ^ "Boateng keen on Celtic". Sky Sports. Sky Sports. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  23. ^ "Boateng moves to Greece". Sky Sports. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  24. ^ "George Boateng to join Hasselbaink at Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  25. ^ "George Boateng rescues a late point for Forest against Leicester". The Guardian. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  26. ^ "T-Team recruit Boateng". The New Straits Time. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  27. ^ Eshun, Bill (21 July 2020). "Black Stars never approached me – George Boateng on Netherlands choice". My Joy Online. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  28. ^ "George Boateng - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  29. ^ "Wednesday's rumours". The Guardian. 14 November 2001. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  30. ^ "Boateng admits Dutch keen to avoid England". The Northern Echo. 9 December 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  31. ^ "Kelantan appoint George Boateng as new head coach". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  32. ^ "Kelantan seri dengan Felda United". myMetro. Malaysia.
  33. ^ "George Boateng apologizes to fans, and may leave the club". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  34. ^ "George Boateng remains Kelantan head coach". Goal.com. Malaysia.
  35. ^ "Former T-Team coach appointed to lead Kelantan - the Malaysian Insider". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  36. ^ "Boateng joins Academy staff". Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn.
  37. ^ "Rovers youth coach leaves for Aston Villa". Lancashire Telegraph. 29 July 2019.
  38. ^ Gyimah, Edmund Okai (14 September 2020). "George Boateng pleased with Aston Villa job". Graphic Online. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  39. ^ Ayamga, Emmanuel (26 August 2022). "George Boateng leaves Aston Villa to focus on Black Stars ahead of World Cup". Pulse Ghana. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  40. ^ Mabuka, Dennis (25 May 2022). "Ghana FA retains Otto Addo to take charge of Black Stars until December". goal.com. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  41. ^ "NEWS: George Boateng and Rhys Carr appointed first-team coaches". www.ccfc.co.uk. 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  42. ^ "NEWS: George Boateng leaves Coventry City". www.ccfc.co.uk. 28 November 2024. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  43. ^ "George Boateng discusses his faith". Gazette Live. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  44. ^ "George Boateng, Darren Moore, Joseph-Desire Job and Carlo Nash". Church Times. 27 October 2006. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  45. ^ George Boateng at Soccerbase
  46. ^ "Villa nourished by Angel delight". The Guardian. 22 August 2001. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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