The foreign players introduced by the BC Rangers in recent seasons have received positive reviews from fans. Among them, winger Ibrahim Yakubu Nassam is in great form this season. He scored 10 goals and 5 assists in the first 13 games of the season. Many fans often praise him. Impressive in getting up and down the right wing quickly. The winger from Ghana, a West African football powerhouse, is seeking an opportunity to return to the national team stage.
Ibrahim’s father is a football goalkeeper coach, and his mother and sister are both track and field athletes. Influenced by his family, Ibrahim already showed his athletic talent when he was a child. He often played football with his family in the backyard of his home. When he was 7 years old, he was spotted by the Ghana Red Bull Football Academy during an inter-school competition. He left home alone to train in the capital Accra: “The football school is a boarding school. The dormitory will post everyone’s daily itinerary. In the morning Start training and doing physical fitness as soon as you wake up, start reading after lunch, and then train again. Football schools provide training and all equipment for free, and students are also required to receive education. They are designed to cultivate professional football players, so they will also teach different The national language allowed us to communicate easily with players from other countries, so we also learned a little bit of French at that time.”
Step by step
Later, Ibrahim returned to ordinary school to study, but was later invited to join another football school called Glow Lamp Soccer Academy. This school was composed of famous Ghanaian players who played for the national team that won the bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics. Nii Lamptey, the famous player of PSV Yan Haofen and Aston Villa, was established. During one of the youth matches in Accra, he was spotted by Ghana Olympic team coach Ibrahim Tanko, who called him up to participate in the Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifiers. At that time, Ibrahim was still playing in the secondary league in a semi-professional capacity.
“The football environment in Ghana is not ideal, so many football players will want to go to Europe or Asia to seek opportunities. At that time, a Japanese coach who was also coaching football in Ghana contacted me after the national team game and said he wanted to coach I went to Japan, and I quickly agreed. In fact, Ibrahim Tanko, the coach of the Olympic team, also said that he wanted to take me to Europe for development, but because I agreed to Japan first, I decided to go to Asia first.”
The team Ibrahim joined, Ococias Kyoto AC, participates in the Kansai Division 1 League, which is technically a fifth-tier league lower than the JFL. During his playing period, he helped the team win twice, but unfortunately failed to complete the national competition and was unable to advance to the JFL. Even so, he is still deeply impressed by the Japanese people’s love for football, and he has no regrets about participating in semi-professional competitions as a foreign player: “I have not been disappointed since the moment I left Ghana. Every step is progress for me. stepping stone.”
The contract with Ococias Kyoto AC expired at the beginning of 2023. He wanted to challenge the J League at a higher level but no team invited him. His football agency sent him an offer from Hong Kong. Looking for a new challenge, Ibrahim decided to come to this place he had never heard of to play: “I have never heard of Hong Kong before. They were Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I always thought they were from mainland China. When I knew I was going to Hong Kong, I looked for information online to get to know the place and the team.”
First experience of professional football
The BC Rangers’ record in the first half of last season was not ideal. In the middle of the season, the team decided to make big signings in the hope of improving the situation. After Korean defender Park Jong-bum and Japanese midfielder Yumemi Kanda joined, Ibrahim was introduced to the front line in the hope of improving their offensive power: “At that time My first impression when I came to Hong Kong was that the place was as beautiful and clean as Japan, and the people were friendly. Although the team was not very motivated at the time, everyone was serious and working hard to try to change.”
The teams he played for in Ghana and Japan were semi-professional, and the HK Priemier League became his first professional league. In this half-season, he played in 12 games and scored 5 goals and 6 assists. Kanda, who joined in May, became one of the contributors to the team’s rapid improvement in the second half of the season. In the end, Rangers finished the league in third place and reached the FA Cup final: “The performance in this half of the season was very impressive, and we also won the AFC Champions League Qualifiers, this will be the highest level competition I have participated in. At that time, I thought, it would be great if the original team can continue to play next season.”
The start of the season was not smooth for Rangers. In the ACLQ, Haiphong scored a goal before the end of the game and ultimately lost in overtime. The league has also experienced ups and downs, with the team recently being eliminated in the Senior Shield and FA Cup. Ibrahim admitted that the team’s performance was unstable: “But this can happen to every team in professional football. The team is now at a low ebb, and the coach The team and players are working on ways to fix these issues every day.”
Make Ghana proud of me
After coming to Hong Kong for nearly a year, Ibrahim emphasized that he will focus on team competitions and has no long-term plans. For him, Hong Kong is still a good place to live: “Compared to Japan, prices are a little more expensive, but everything is very good. My girlfriend is still in Japan, and I have thought about bringing her here, but she has a job and it is difficult to Leave. Overall, I would say Hong Kong is still a good place for us to start or continue our football careers.”
In the past, many African players became qualified to represent the Hong Kong team after playing in Hong Kong for seven years. Ibrahim has thought about this Representing the Hong Kong team? “I was also very excited when I heard the stories of Awal, Kilama, and Gerard. But I am 26 years old now and will be 33 years old seven years later. I may be relatively old for the representative team by then.”
Ibachi’s golden goal with a bicycle kick against Lee Man in the FA Cup also attracted the attention of the Ghanaian media. Some commentators believe that he has a chance to be selected for the Ghana national team: “In general, the coach may pay more attention to players in Europe. But as long as I continue to maintain a stable performance in Hong Kong and can help the team achieve good results, the coach of the national team may also notice, especially now that the Ghana team has some offensive problems and needs to find a forward. selection.”
Profile
| 姓名 | 伊巴謙·約高保·拿深 Ibrahim Yakubu Nassam |
| 位置 | RW/CF |
| 擅長腳 | 右腳 |
| 出生日期 | 1997/2/18 |
| 職業球隊 | 歡迎光臨京都AC（2019-23） 標準流浪（2023-） |