Squad No: 22
Position: Goalkeeper
Age: 31
Birth Date: Jul 13, 1978
Birth Place: Accra, Ghana
Height: 6' 0'' (1.83m)
Weight: 192 lbs (87 kg)
Club: Wigan Athletic (England)
International Caps: 78
International Goals: 1
Club History
Wigan Athletic (ENG): 2008-2010
Birmingham (ENG): 2007-2008
Hammarby IF (SWE): 2007-2007
Ankaraspor (TUR): 2005-2007
Galatasaray (TUR): 2004-2005
Ankaraspor (TUR): 2003-2004
Antalyaspor (TUR): 2001-2002
Goztepespor (TUR): 1999-2001
Sakaryaspor (TUR): 1998-1999
Great Olympics (GHA): 1995-1998
from Wikipedia (full wiki)
Kingson is the starting goalkeeper of the Ghana national football team, and was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
He was voted as an All-Star Goalkeeper during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Tournament in Ghana. The Team of the Tournament was decided by the Technical Study Group (TSG) after careful observations of all the tournament's matches.
In 2008, he scored a goal for Ghana in a friendly - a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Tanzania.
As first-choice goalkeeper and team captain he was instrumental in leading Ghana to the final of the 2010 tournament, and was again selected for the all-star team along with Egypt custodian Essam El-Hadary.
from ESPN SoccerNet
Kingson was described as a 'complete waste of space' by outspoken Birmingham City co-owner David Sullivan during an unhappy spell in England with the Blues in the 2007-08 season, yet he has the potential to prove his critics wrong.
The Black Stars No.1 is anything but a lost cause as he is his country's most-capped player of all time and has performed brilliantly in his last three major tournaments: the 2006 and 2008 World Cups and the 2010 African Cup of Nations. He was also in fine form as he played in all of Ghana's World Cup qualifiers.
Kingson spent nine years playing in Turkey with Sakaryaspor, Goztepe, Antalyaspor, Elazigspor, Ankaraspor and Galatasaary and his love for the country was confirmed when he became a naturalised Turkish citizen, taking on the name of Faruk Gursoy. He is the brother of Laryea Kingston, the Ghana midfielder playing his football in Scotland with Hearts, though their surnames are spelt differently due to a bureaucratic mix-up.
from FIFA.com
Richard Kingson was the only player to compete in all of Ghana’s 12 qualifying matches en route to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. In fact, the Accra-born goalkeeper was the only international to play every minute of the preliminaries, which started in Kumasi in June 2008 with a 3-0 win over Libya and ended at the same venue with a 2-2 draw against Mali. The net-minder conceded just seven goals in the 12 matches.
Kingson has been Ghana’s first choice custodian since just before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when he took over from Sammy Adjei. He has had a rich club career, including being naturalised in Turkey where his name was changed to Faruk Gursory to allow him to play as a local in the league. Kingson moved to Turkey from Accra Great Olympics in 1998 and played at six different clubs. The highlight was moving to Galatasaray for the 2004/05 season, but he was only used as the back-up goalkeeper. In 2007 he went from the Mediterranean climes of Turkey to the Scandinavian cold of Sweden where he played for Hammarby, and suddenly won himself some notoriety.
Birmingham City next signed him but his contract was cancelled early as the club were relegated and he saw little game time. Kingson followed coach Steve Bruce to Wigan Athletic, where he has also been a little-used reserve in the squad. But his irregular club football has not stopped him from delivering for Ghana. He captained an injury-hit, and inexperienced side, at the 2010 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola, where for a second successive continental championship he was named among the best goalkeepers. Ghana won through to the final in Luanda in January and were semi-finalists on home soil in 2008. Kingson’s international career also includes a goal for Ghana, a free-kick scored against Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam in August 2008.
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