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John Paintsil

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John Paintsil
Personal information
Full name John Paintsil
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right Back
Team information
Current team
 Fulham
Number 4
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:48, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

John Paintsil (born June 15, 1981 in Berekum) is a Ghanaian international football player who is currently under contract to the English Premier League club Fulham.

Background

Paintsil was born in June 1981 in Berekum, Ghana. A player comfortable at the full back or midfield position, Paintsil had stints in his native Ghana with Berekum Arsenal and Liberty Professionals and a brief spell with Polish side Widzew Łódź before moving to Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2002. Paintsil was referred as John Pantsil in his West Ham transfer documents, a name he has repeatedly insisted is incorrect.[1][2]

Club career

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Paintsil joined Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2002, where he was a member of the team that won both the Israeli title and reached the Cup Semi final.[3] He made 46 league appearances[4] and five appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

Hapoel Tel Aviv

In December 2004, he transferred to rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv[5] helping them to second place in the league in 2006[3] and to win the Israeli State Cup in May 2006.[6] He made 42 appearances for Hapoel, scoring three goals.[4]

West Ham United

After the 2006 World Cup, Israeli international Yossi Benayoun recommended Paintsil to West Ham United manager Alan Pardew as the Premier League club were in need of a right-back.[5] Pardew took Paintsil with the rest of the squad on their pre-season tour of Sweden and he featured in the matches out there putting in some impressive performances.[7] In August 2006, West Ham completed the signing of Paintsil after a work permit was granted.[8] John Paintsil was given the number 14 shirt at West Ham and competed for a place in the side with Tyrone Mears and American international, Jonathan Spector.

Upon signing for West Ham, Paintsil claimed that the club had spelt his name wrong both on his contract and on the back of his shirt. The player insisted that his name was in fact 'Paintsil', not 'Pantsil'. This was placed into further confusion when West Ham confirmed that all of the player's official UK travel documentation and work permit carries the name 'Pantsil'. As a result, in spite of the player's protests, the name 'Pantsil' appears on the back of his West Ham shirt to abide by the English FA rules.[9]

He made only five appearances for West Ham during the 2006/07 season and in the summer of 2007 was weighing up his options in order to ensure his place in the Ghana national team for the 2008 African Cup of Nations.[10] However, the defender remained at West Ham United and in July 2008, with the majority of his 24 games for West Ham being substitute appearances, Pantsil was given permission to speak to Fulham with a view to a move.

Fulham

[11] On July 15, 2008, Paintsil and team mate Bobby Zamora completed their move to Fulham for a combined transfer fee of £6.3 million.[12]

International career

Paintsil was a member of the Ghana Under 21 team who were runner-up in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina in 2001 and played for the senior team in the African Cup of Nations in Mali in 2002 and Egypt in 2006.[5] He was also a member of the Ghana 2004 Olympics football team who exited in the first round in Greece, having finished in third place in Group B. He played in all the matches of Ghana's national team in the World Cup 2006 finals, where Ghana were beaten by Brazil in the second round.[5]


Following the first and second goals in Ghana's 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic on 17 June2006, he celebrated by waving an Israeli flag, he also waved as the final whistle blew. This action provoked some protests in his native country Ghana and the Arab world.[13] Afterwards the Ghanaian Football Association issued an apology, and said of Paintsil "He was naive".[14]

References

  1. ^ Players Profile: John Paintsil, ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  2. ^ "Paintsil fights to keep his real name", Ghanaweb.com, 19 August 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  3. ^ a b Player Profile: John Paintsil, Ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  4. ^ a b Soccerbase: John Pantsil, Racing Post. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d Player Profiles: John Pantsil, West Ham United Official Site. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  6. ^ Player Profile: John Paintsil, Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  7. ^ '""Hammers happy with Paintsil", Sky Sports, 26 Jul 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  8. ^ "Hammer Paintsil nets work permit", BBC Sport, 9 August 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  9. ^ "Pantsil situation clarified", West Ham United Official Site, 13 October 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007
  10. ^ "West Ham's Paintsil eyeing exit", BBC Sport, 22 June 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  11. ^ "Hammers clear way for Zamora exit". BBC Sport. 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2008-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Zamora & Pantsil sign for Fulham". BBC Sport. 2008-07-15. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Although it appeared he was going to be nothing more than a backup for the recently signed Fredrik Stoor, Paintsil has appeared to be preferred to the Swede in the early games of the season. His debut was the 13th August FA Primier League match match versus Hull City. He also featured in the historic win at home to Arsenal a week later. He has quickly become a favourite with the fans following his laps of honour around Craven Cottage and "The Paintsil Salute", not to mention his confident performances. The fans reactions sharply contrasted with the startingright back from the 2007-8 season Chris Baird who's performances quickly gained him Public enemy No. 1 status. url= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Fury in Egypt over Ghana's Israeli flag waver", Ynetnews, 19 June 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
  14. ^ "Apology follows Paintsil gesture", BBC Sport, 19 June 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
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