QUINCY OWUSU-ABEYIE

'Quincy James Owusu-Abeyie' (born April 15, 1986 in Amsterdam, Netherlands), known occasionally simply by his first name "'Quincy'", is a Ghanaian-Dutch footballer who plays as a forward for Celta de Vigo on loan from Spartak Moscow. Owusu-Abeyie played for Dutch national youth teams, but FIFA are currently considering his request to become eligible to represent Ghana instead.^[1]

Contents

Club career

International career

Netherlands youth teams

Switch to Ghana

Personal life

References

External links

Club career

Born in Amsterdam to Ghanaian Parents^[2], Quincy was a Dutch Youth International footballer since he was 14 years old. He had been a member of hometown Club Ajax Amsterdam's youth system for nine years before he was signed by Arsenal in September 2002. He was handed a long-term contract on July 1, 2003 and agreed to a new improved three-year contract on 1 July 2005.^[3] During his time in Arsenal's youth setup, Owusu-Abeyie once scored six goals for Arsenal's U-17 side in a 7-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His debut first-team appearance was in a League Cup match against Rotherham United on October 28, 2003 in which Arsenal drew 1-1. His first goal was scored in the same competition on November 9, 2004 against Everton. He also made his UEFA Champions League bow in the Gunners' 5-1 demolition of Norwegian Champions Rosenborg on 7 December 2004 when he was 18 years old.
His performances in an Arsenal shirt were inconsistent, despite an impressive performance against Reading ^[4] and scoring against Doncaster Rovers ^[5] in the Gunners' 2005-06 Carling Cup run. After Arsenal boosted their forward line in the January 2006 transfer window, by signing Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor and rising star Theo Walcott, he signed for Russian club Spartak Moscow for around £1.45m on 31 January 2006^[6].
On 28 June 2007, it was reported in the Dutch media^[7] that English Premier League Club Birmingham City had expressed interest in Quincy and wanted to bring him back to play in England^[8] but on 31 August 2007, BBC reported that Quincy had moved to Spanish Club Celta de Vigo on loan^[9].

International career

Netherlands youth teams

Owusu-Abeyie appeared at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship for the Netherlands national under-21 football team, the ''Jong Orange'' in the summer of 2005. In the first game against Japan he set up Ryan Babel for a close range goal.^[10] Though the Netherlands crashed out of the tournament in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out against Nigeria,^[11] Described by FIFA.com as "a bit special... full of Power, pace and bags of sumptuous skill", Quincy was profiled as one of the Best Players of that FIFA U20 Championship^[12].
Quincy was a member of the Netherlands' junior sides since he was 15, progressing through all the way to the U21 side. He played his last game for them on 14 November 2006 in a 0-1 international friendly home loss to England Under-21's in Alkmaar.

Switch to Ghana

On Friday 5 January 2007, Quincy went to Ghana to meet with Ghana Football Association (GFA) Officials^[13] and engage them in talks over the role he could play to help the Ghanaian football, and discussed switching his allegiance to play for Ghana.
The first attempt by the GFA to convince him to feature for the ''Black Stars'' at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany hit a snag, following the player’s earlier appearances with the Netherlands' U21 side at the 2005 World Youth Championship.
On Wednesday 24 January 2007, the Dutch youth international decided to pledged his senior international future to Ghana.^[14] Ghana coach Claude Le Roy named him in the Ghana squad for their 6 February 2007 friendly International match against Nigeria.^[15]
However, FIFA was yet to approve Owusu-Abeyie's request for a switch of nationality, and in the end Quincy did not make his International debut for Ghana as expected, because he was not released by Spartak Moscow; The Ghana national coach made clear he would complain to FIFA as a result^[16] As of April 2007 Quincy has not yet played for Ghana; although called up for their match against Austria in March, he eventually did not play but did declare that he was playing for Ghana in the future.^[17]

Personal life

Owusu-Abeyie was arrested after up to five men began brawling in a London café, ''Café Royal'' following the Professional Footballers' Association Player Awards at 3am on 25 April 2005. Officers were called at about 0300 BST where they found a man with serious head injuries. However, the police did not press any charges against Owusu-Abeyie and cleared him of any involvement in the incident.^[18].
He is also related to the rapper Sway

References

1. 'Quincy Owusu verkiest Ghana boven Oranje'
2. Football without borders in the Lowlands
3. Owusu-Abeyie signs Arsenal deal
4. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=190346&cc=5901
5. Arsenal see off minnows Doncaster
6. Moscow move for Arsenal youngster
7. Quincy kan naar Birmingham City
8. Birmingham wil Owusu naar Engeland halen
9. Owusu-Abeyie joins Celta Vigo
10. Dutch overcome late nerves to sink Japan
11. Young Oranje go out with a bang
12. Fourteen nuggets in Netherlands
13. Owusu-Abeyie to play for Ghana?
14. Owusu-Abeyie opts for Ghana
15. Owusu Abeyie kiest voor Ghana
16. http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/int-friendlies/2006-2007/sport_sto1078879.shtml
17. Quincy koos definitief voor Ghana
18. Arsenal player in 'awards brawl'

External links

★

★ Russian Premier League squads

★ UEFA Champions League Profile

★ Ghana Football Association - official website

★ Ghanaweb Football Forum - Ghana Football Fan Forum

★ English Premier League Profile