Christian Annan

Christian Kwesi Annan (Chinese: 安基斯; born (1978-05-03)3 May 1978) is a Ghanaian-born Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Hong Kong Premier League club Rangers.

Christian Annan
Personal information
Full name Christian Kwesi Annan
Date of birth (1978-05-03) 3 May 1978
Place of birth Accra, Ghana
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position(s) Striker/ Left-Winger
Club information
Current team
 Rangers
Number 33
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Eastern 8 (14)
2006–2013 Tai Po 124 (42)
2013– Kitchee 36 (8)
2016–2017 → Pegasus (loan) 19 (2)
2018–2019 → Hoi King (loan) 16 (5)
2019– Rangers 9 (0)
National team‡
2014 Hong Kong U-23 3 (1)
2014– Hong Kong 13 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 August 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 September 2016

He is renowned in Hong Kong for his high pace and dribbling skill.

Biography

Eastern
Annan trying to go past Fung Ka Ki of Mutual in a league game

Christian Annan arrived in Hong Kong to continue his football career in 2005. Unfortunately, he arrived at a time when most clubs in the First Division had already finished their foreign player signings, and so he joined Eastern, a Second Division club instead.

With 14 goals in 11 matches, including a hat trick against Tai Po, Annan successfully gained the attention of his then opponent. When Tai Po had successfully obtained their promotion status after the 2005–06 season, they signed Annan immediately.

Tai Po

Although he did not have the same impact in front of goal when compared to his time in the Second Division, Annan bagged 6 goals in 21 matches and became Tai Po's top scorer (along with defender Joel), helping the team to successfully avoid relegation . His performances were also thrown into the limelight with his selection into the Hong Kong League XI for the Lunar New Year Cup 2007. With only a brief appearance in the first match against Jamaica, Annan started the next match against Australia U-23, was fouled in the box, gaining a penalty for his team which ultimately tied the match (penalty scored by Keith Gumbs) in injury time.

His contribution on Tai Po has been further rewarded: he was selected into the 2006–07 Squad of the Year in the Hong Kong Footballer Awards.

In season 2007–2008, Annan kept performing and being selected into the first squad of Hong Kong League XI for the Lunar New Year Cup 2008. He only dropped out of the final selection due to the overload of attacking players. He scored 7 goals in the season, being named the second top league scorer of the team along with striking partner Betine, behind Dega.

In the 2011–12 season, on 18 September 2011, Annan appeared as a second-half substitute and scored twice against Kitchee, but Tai Po still lost the game, 4–2.

Kitchee

On 9 June 2013, Annan joined Kitchee on a free transfer along with his former Tai Po strike partner Alex. On 3 September 2013, Annan made his debut for Kitchee in a 6–2 victory against Sun Hei. On 19 October 2013, Annan scored his first goal for Kitchee by netting the winner in a 1–0 victory against Yokohama FC Hong Kong.

On 12 July 2017, Annan was recalled from loan he spent the 2016-17 at HK Pegasus.[1]

Hong Kong League XI

On 18 July 2010, Annan was selected into Hong Kong League Selection against Birmingham City in the Hong Kong Stadium. He scored a goal in the match and was the MVP of the match. After the match, it was rumoured that the manager of Birmingham City Alex McLeish was interested in signing Annan.[2]

Hoi King

On 20 August 2018, Annan was sent on loan to fellow HKPL side Hoi King.[3]

Rangers

On 28 August 2019, Annan joined Rangers.[4] He played 17 matches for Rangers during the 19-20 season including league and cup games, before the HKPL was suspended from mid of March 2020 due to Coronavirus.

International career

Annan scored his first international goal for Hong Kong against Bhutan on 11 June 2015 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Honours

Club
Tai Po
Kitchee

Individual

Statistics

Club statistics
As of 12 July 2017
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Hong Kong League FA Cup & Shield LC & Play-offs Asia Total
2005–06 Eastern Second Division 81430--1114
2006–07 Tai Po First Division 1552041-216
2007–08 1874040-267
2008–09 2394221-2912
2009–10 18341-61285
2010–11 1846410-258
2011–12 1575410-2111
2012–13 17711710-2914
2013–14 Kitchee First Division 186500000236
2014–15 Premier League 91412170223
2015–16 Premier League 50004290180
2016–17 HK Pegasus Premier League 19230--222
2017–18 Kitchee Premier League 0000000000
Total Eastern 8143000001114
Tai Po 1244236181326117963
Kitchee 32791631606311
Pegasus 19230--222
Career total 18365511919522127590

International
As of 5 March 2014
# Date Venue Opponent Result Scored Competition
1 5 March 2014 My Dinh National Stadium, Từ Liêm District, Hanoi, Vietnam  Vietnam 1–3 0 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

International goals
Scores and results list Hong Kong's goal tally first.[5]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.11 June 2015Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong Bhutan2–07–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life

Annan's wife, Irene, is a Hong Konger. The couple have a daughter named Precious[6][7][8]。

gollark: Bees?
gollark: I do on some servers, but not here.
gollark: Just hope the assembler will optimize it. Or the CPU. Somehow.
gollark: RPNCalc to BF? Very exciting. BF is truly the universal language.
gollark: Wait, does RPNCalcv4 support hex literæls?

References
  1. "傑志望延續本地佳績 誓以認真態度挑戰亞冠盃舞台". Kitchee. Archived from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. McLeish interested in signing Hong Kong League XI player Christian (in Chinese) Archived 9 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
  3. "港超升班馬凱景組青春班 助教黃耀富：協助小將下季獲大球會招手". Ming Pao. Retrieved 20 August 2018. (in Chinese)
  4. "年齡只是數字！安基斯簽約標準流浪". on.cc. Retrieved 28 August 2019. (in Chinese)
  5. "Annan, Christian". National Football Teams. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  6. Wofoo Tai Po – Football can fulfill dreams (和富大埔—足可圓夢), Wofoo Social Enterprises, 2007，30–37 ISBN 978-988-99851-1-0
  7. 〈安基斯喜得異地情 Archived 21 September 2008 at Archive.today〉,蘋果日報 , 20 September 2008
  8. 〈African soccer players flee war and poverty in search of a better life in Hong Kong〉, South China Morning Post, 8 October 2008
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