Legendary former Black Stars captain has revealed how he nearly turned down the offer to captain the Black Stars in 2002 due to his personal relationship and loyalty to senior teammate Samuel Osei Kuffour.

The then Bayern Munich defender was a senior player in the squad but authorities by passed him and handed over the captaincy to a young Stephen Appiah.

At the tender age of 21 years Stephen Appiah captained the Black Stars for the first time in a friendly match against Slovenia on May 17,2002.

After that he went on to captain the team to its maiden World Cup in Germany in 2006 and then to South Africa in 2010.

He also captained Ghana at several AFCON tournaments before hanging up his boots after 67 caps and 14 goals.

According to Stephen Appiah it was then roommate Ricahrd Kingson who persuaded him to take the armband after Kuffour finally gave him his blessings after speaking to him.

“It was a difficult decision for many reasons. For one, I didn’t want to betray Kuffour, a man I had admired for so long. He had accomplished so much and had sacrificed a lot for the good of the team. Some of the things he had done for the team were also the reason why some people didn’t like him," Appiah told EMY Africa magazine.

“It could have been part of why he didn’t want the captaincy. So it was difficult for me. But I accepted after speaking with Sammy. He encouraged me to take it and assured me of his support. I realized I had started leading the team anyway and the armband was only going to legitimize what I already was.

“Together with the players, we decided to scrap the existing bonus structure. It didn’t make sense to me that bonuses had to be paid based on seniority and status. The Black Stars had a history of disunity and everyone knew this. So I felt we needed to shift the paradigm,” he added.