Ghana and Freiburg midfielder Daniel-Kofi Kyereh says his mother forced him to choose between football or athletics.

He says growing up he was very good at both sports but his mother was struggling juggling between picking from football and sending him to athletics so he had to choose one and ultimately settled for football.

The Ghanaian made his debut for the Black Stars in a 1–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier win over Ethiopia on 3 September 2021.

Kofi Kyere was born in Ghana to a German mum and a Ghanaian father but moved to Germany at a tender age.

“It started when I was a little kid in Braunschweig (Germany), which is a small village. I started playing football and athletics,” Kyereh told Pulse.com.gh.

“Those were my passion around that time and I just had fun playing football, it became over the years too much for my mum to bring me back and forth with both sports so she asked me to decide and I said I liked football more.”

Kyereh disclosed that once he picked football, it became a part of him and he was usually found with a ball wherever he was.

“I did everything that felt fun for me at that moment for example I was playing basketball with my friends like Dennis Schröder in Braunschweig when I was young,” he continued.

“And even when we meet up for basketball after 10 minutes, I took the ball and tried to kick it with my feet into the rim.

“So everyone knew this is Kofi the footballer. No matter what I was doing I had football in my head, it was always all about football.”

He featured as a second-half substitute in all three matches as the Black Stars were eliminated in the group stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.