Edward Kobina Acquah (23 July 1935 – 5 October 2011)^[2] was a Ghanaian footballer who played as a forward. He competed for the Ghana national team at the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[3] He also scored four goals for Ghana in the 1963 African Cup of Nations.^[4]

Club career

Edward started his playing career for Sekondi Eleven Wise F.C., following his father's footsteps. His father's name was Kojo Acquah and he was regarded as one finest strikers of his time. However, Edward did not start his career as a striker, instead, due to his tall stature, was deployed as a goalkeeper in his early years. He was summoned to play as a striker when their first choice keeper, betrayed Eleven Wise and went to play for another club. During this game, Edward scored 2 goals as Eleven Wise were victorious. He was also sometimes deployed as a right-winger on occasions, but he was never better than the great Baba Yara, therefore he stayed as a centre-forward.^[5]

In the 1959/1960 season, Eleven Wise unfortunately finished bottom of the league with only 6 points and 10 losses. Due to Ghana not having a second division at the time, Sekondi stayed up and in the succeeding season, did the unthinkable. Acquah led Eleven Wise to one of the most entertaining seasons throughout the history of Ghanaian football. Previous season's winners Asante Kotoko were looking to become the first team in the league's history to win in it back-to-back years. However, Eleven Wise won the championship, bettering Asante Kotoko by just two points. The final game of the season, Eleven Wise were losing 1–0 to Hasacaas, in the Sekondi derby, but in the 85th minute Eleven Wise won a penalty, which Acquah converted with ease. All Eleven Wise had to do was wait, Asante Kotoko played their game later on in the day, against Cornerstones. Surprisingly, Asante Kotoko lost 2-0 and this meant that Eleven Wise were champions.^[6][7][8]

According to Ohene Djan, Ghana's former FA chairman and first Director of Sport, Acquah scored over 400 goals in his club career and also 166 goals in 77 games, internationally. The club statistics contain friendly games and the international statistics contain regional games and unofficial games, totalling to 566 goals in his career. This tally could increase further, through research in newspaper reports of the time. He may be in contention of being part of RSSSF's list of players with over 500 goals^[5]

International career

Acquah was called up to the Gold Coast team on 16 December 1956 scoring a hat-trick on his debut against Sierra Leone, in a tight 4–3 victory in the Akewe Cup. Three months later, Ghana celebrated their independence from British colonial rule, thereby making this game Acquah's only appearance for the Gold Coast team.^[1]

The team carried on playing, but now as Ghana. On 19 August 1962 the Real Madrid squad that had won the European Cup 5 times consecutively visited Ghana for a game. The game was electrifying; at one point Ghana led 3–2, with Acquah scoring, but a blinding pass by Ferenc Puskas set up Yanko Daucik to score the equalising goal, with only minutes to go. Acquah played a further 40 official games for Ghana, scoring 42 goals since independence, before hanging up his international boots in 1964.^[5]

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

• Ghana Premier League: 1961, 1963
• Ghana FA Cup: 1963, 1964, 1965

International

• AFCON: 1963
• Nkrumah Cup: 1959, 1960, 1963^[9]
• 1962 Ugandan Independence Tournament: 1962^[10]