Soccer Ghana Football Association Professional footballer Ghana

He was born in the Netherlands, and played international football for his native country at youth level, but in 2007 requested to become eligible to represent Ghana instead. FIFA approved his request on 10 January 2008, just ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

Club career

Owusu-Abeyie was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Ghanaian parents, Quincy had been a member of the youth system at hometown club Ajax for nine years when he was released at the age of 16 because of attitude problems. Liam Brady, Arsenal's head of youth development, offered him a trial which proved successful, and the player joined Arsenal as a scholar in September 2002. In the 2002–03 season he scored 17 goals in 20 games for the under-17 side, including six in a 7–1 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers under-17. Handed his first professional contract on his 18th birthday – a move which led to Arsenal being fined £10,000 and given a suspended two-year transfer ban for inadvertently dealing with an unlicensed agent – Quincy signed a new long-term contract in July 2005.

His first-team debut came as an 85th-minute substitute in the League Cup match against Rotherham United on 28 October 2003.

During extra time he attempted to chip Rotherham goalkeeper Mike Pollitt, who handled the ball outside his penalty area and was sent off; with the score 1–1 after 120 minutes the game was decided by a penalty shootout which Arsenal won, though Owusu-Abeyie missed his kick. He scored his first goal for the first team in the same competition on 9 November 2004 against Everton, a game in which he also made two assists, and produced a similarly impressive performance against Reading during the Gunners' 2005–06 League Cup run.

However, he failed to break through to regular first-team selection. Although he appreciated training alongside and learning from players such as Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, and accepted the need for patience, once Arsenal boosted their forward line in the January 2006 transfer window by signing Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor and rising star Theo Walcott, Quincy recognised that he needed to leave. He signed for Russian club Spartak Moscow for an undisclosed fee on 31 January 2006.

In June 2007, it was reported that Premier League club Birmingham City had expressed interest in Quincy and wanted to bring him back to play in England, but on the final day of the summer 2007 transfer window he joined Spanish side Celta de Vigo on loan for the 2007–08 season with an option to purchase. He made 20 appearances in the Segunda División, of which half were as substitute, and scored five goals, though he missed several weeks of the season on international duty at the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

On 6 August 2008 he joined Birmingham City on loan, initially until January 2009, but with the intention of extending the loan for the rest of the season. An option was included to purchase the player outright at that point.

He made his debut as a second-half substitute in the first-round League Cup match against Wycombe Wanderers, scoring the fourth goal in a 4–0 win with a fine finish from 18 yards.

He then went on to score crucial league goals against Cardiff City and Derby County. The initial loan was not extended past January 2009, manager Alex McLeish suggesting that financial considerations might have come into play.

Quincy had a trial with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur later that month, but went on to sign for Cardiff City of the Football League Championship on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season, again with the option of making the switch permanent at that point.

He made his debut for the club on 25 February as a late substitute for Chris Burke in a 0–0 draw with Queens Park Rangers, but made only three more substitute appearances for the club during the remainder of the season before returning to Moscow.

Reportedly "available for a small fee", he trained with Championship side Bristol City for ten days in August 2009, but no deal was forthcoming.

On 27 January 2010 he signed for Premier League side Portsmouth on loan for the rest of the 2009–10 season, and made his debut in the defeat at Manchester City four days later, coming on as a late substitute for Hayden Mullins.

As a second-half substitute in Portsmouth's fifth-round FA Cup-tie against local rivals Southampton, Quincy made a decisive impact, scoring the opening goal with a "low and precise finish" before setting up two further goals as Portsmouth won 4–1.

In late March, Spartak were reported to have repaid Portsmouth half the loan fee of £500,000 to terminate the loan agreement early, and on 31 March, Quincy signed a three-year contract with Qatari club Al-Sadd.

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. Though the Netherlands crashed out of the tournament in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out against Nigeria, 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.

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 and engage them in talks over the role he could play to help 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. Ghana coach Claude Le Roy named him in the Ghana squad for their 6 February 2007 friendly International match against Nigeria.

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; Ghana's national coach made clear he would complain to FIFA as a result. Although called up for Ghana's match against Austria in March 2007, Quincy did not play but did declare that he would be playing for Ghana in the future.

On 18 December 2007, Quincy was called up by Ghana as part of the 40-man squad for their 2-week training camp in Dubai ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations. He later told Spanish media that he was very happy to receive the call-up.

On 10 January 2008, just ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations, FIFA approved Quincy's request to switch to Ghana. Chelsea FC midfielder Michael Essien was the first to congratulate the Dutch-born forward. Other players followed by pouring bottles and buckets of water on Quincy to officially welcome him into the team amidst wild cheers from team officials.

Quincy was selected for Ghana's 2008 African Cup of Nations squad and was in the team that defeated Nigeria on 3 February 2008, advancing to the semi-finals. He scored his first international goal in the third place match of the 2008 African Cup of Nations, where Ghana defeated Ivory Coast 4-2

Quincy was named in the 30 man squad for to prepare for the world cup in South Africa 2010. He joined his Ghanaian team mates for pre world cup training in France. On the 30th of May 2010, He was selected as part of the 23 man squad for the world cup tournament scheduled to be played in South Africa. On June 5, he scored Ghana's one goal victory over Latvia in their last warm-up match at Stadium MK-Milton Keynes, England.


Source: Wikipedia