Former Black Stars midfield Derek Boateng says he had a fulfilling playing career and counts playing for the senior national team the Black Stars among the highest points of his career.
The midfielder says growing up all he wanted to do was to play for Ghana and defend the nation with the fans cheering on.
Derek Boateng played for the Black Satellites at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina where Ghana placed second and was among the stars of the tournament.
He went on to have a relatively successful career where he played for the likes of Getafe, Fulham, AIK, Koln, Dnipro among several other teams.
Boateng says despite playing for most teams in Europe, he derived his joy from playing for Ghana and felt special representing his country at two World Cups in 2006, 2010 and several AFCON tournaments.
“When I started playing football, my ambition was to play for Ghana and defend my nation anywhere in the world. It was such an honour being in front of Ghanaians and fans, singing the national anthem and playing. It was more than anything and I’m so happy about that,” Boateng told Goal.
“I also wanted to play in Europe as a professional player, play in the Champions League and meet all the best players in the world. [I fulfilled these and] that’s something I really cherish in my life.
“But the most of all was playing for Ghana – that was the highest moment. It was good playing in Europe and all that but playing for your national side was something special."
Boateng was an integral member of the Black Stars at the FIFA World Cup in Germany (2006) and South Africa (2010) as Ghana reach the round of 16 and quarter finals respectively.
“Playing at the World Cup in 2010 and reaching the quarter-final is among my highest," Boateng continued.
“The first tournament in Germany would be more special because that was our first World Cup. It was crazy and we really loved it. We were in the group with the Czech Republic, the USA and Italy."
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