Madam Abena Atea sold her television set and  bought a Football boots for her son  born on September 3 1976 in Kumasi, who worked at age 14 as a shoe shine boy. The shoe shine boy Fortunately and unintimidated moved through the ranks of football from Kumasi Envoys to  Fanthomas and then King Faisal all in Kumasi and apparently  moved to Italy where he joined Torino at a tender  age of 16 after a splendid performance he exhibited at  FIFA U-17 championship in Italy.
Very popular  for his prodigious control and tactical awareness, Samuel Osei Kuffour has a bodily presence and a physical intelligence to unsettle the strongest of attacking players without  being fouledÂ
A Ghana international for over a decade, Samuel Osei Kuffour gained his first cap as a 17-year-old in a game against Sierra Leone on 28 November 1993. He had previously been part of every national team and eventually captained Ghana  at  age of 23.
Samuel Osei Kuffour erupted onto the international scene at age 13. he was a member of the Ghana side that won the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Italy and the one that was runner-up to Nigeria in the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan. At youth level, he appeared with the team that finished second to Brazil during the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia.
In the archives of Olympics, Samuel Osei  Kuffour became the youngest Olympic Football Champion of all-time, when he collected bronze at the 1992 Olympics just before his 16th birthday. He was also a member of the squad that reached the quarterfinals at the same level in 1996.
Kuffour made his first FIFA World Cup appearance for Ghana in  2006 in Germany  against Italy. After an arguably expensive mistake in his  first match  0–2 loss, he was dropped for the next three games as Ghana bowed out in the round-of-16 against Brazil.
On 12 January 2007, the Confederation of African Football voted Kuffour as a member of the Top 30 African Players of All-Time.
As a FIFA World Class defender, Samuel Kuffour spent consistent 11 seasons with  Bayern Munich, rising from the ranks of youth team to a prominent team member who lifted the Champions League with the club. He was an integral part of the Bayern squad that won the UEFA Champions League 2000-01 and he scored the winning goal in the 2001 Intercontinental Cup and was named Man of the Match.
                                    
Sammy Kuffour is conceivably famous for breaking down in tears after Manchester United's two late goals in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against his side Bayern Munich. Kuffour is also the youngest defender of all-time to score in the UEFA Champions League, he was  18 years, 61 days old during the FC Bayern München 2-2 with FC Spartak Moscow, on November 2,1994.Â
Sammy Kuffour has indefatigably  made in excess of  60 UEFA Champions League appearances and he is the most by any African Player ever.
After eleven seasons at the Bayern , and 175 Bundesliga appearances, Kuffour moved from  Bayern in 2005 summer  to return to Italy with AS Roma and signed a 3-year-deal with A.S. Roma in free transfer. But his second year was loaned to UEFA Cup competitor, Serie A team Livorno. He made 21 Serie A appearances in 2005/06 having spent a period of the season away with the Ghanaian national side in the African Cup of Nations
AWARDSÂ
CLUBSÂ
Intercontinental Cup Winner 2001Â
UEFA Champions League Winner 2001Â
UEFA Champions League Finalist medal 1999Â
German Bundesliga Winner 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2004/05Â
German Bundesliga Runner-up 1997/98, 2003/04Â
German Cup Winner 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005Â
German Cup Finalist medal 1999Â
Coppa Italia Finalist medal 2006 with AS Roma
 INTERNATIONAL
1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship WinnerÂ
Football at the 1992 Summer Olympics Bronze MedalÂ
1993 FIFA World Youth Championship Finalist medalÂ
1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship Finalist medalÂ
1996 African Cup of Nations 4th Place
INDIVIDUAL
African Footballer of the Year Runner-up 1999, 2001Â
Ballon d'Or Nomination 2001Â
FIFA All-Star defenderÂ
BBC African Footballer of the Year - Winner 2001Â
Ghana Footballer of the Year - Winner 1998,1999,2001Â
Youngest Olympic Football Champion of all-time 15 Years, Bronze Medal in 1992Â
Youngest defender of all-time to score in the UEFA Champions League:Â
18 years, 61 days
Most appearances by an African player in the UEFA Champions LeagueÂ
Ghana Athlete of the Year - Winner 2001
 
SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT SAMMY OSEI KUFFOUR
He is Bayern's second longest-serving player after Mehmet Scholl.
Back in Munich, the Ghana international became a well-known name, attracting interest from Real Madrid, Fiorentina and Barcelona.
As the years have gone by, he has become more consistent, and less inclined to the errors and reckless challenges that marked his early play. His up-and-down style is perhaps best encapsulated by a game against Frankfurt in the 1999-2000 season.
First Kuffour gave away a penalty after fouling a Frankfurt player - 1-0 for Frankfurt - then he ran into his own keeper Oliver Kahn (who was knocked unconscious, and was out of action for a few weeks) and finally he scored the winning goal at the end of the game to make it 2-1 to Bayern.
Bayern rejected a $9 million offer from Barcelona for Kuffour in January 2001 and then fined the player $3,000 in March on learning he had dined with Barca representative Bernd Schuster.
Kuffour signed an extension to his contract in July 2001, pledging his future at the club until 2005
In 2003 Kuffour revealed to the BBC, in an interview for the 'Heart and Soul' documentary that he wanted to be a priest or a missionary when he retired from football. In the interview, he also revealed the surprised reactions of some German players as he prayed before games, while also addressing the support he received from fellow Ghanaian Christians, especially those living in Munich.
In the same interview, Kuffour also talked about the death of his daughter Godiva, in a drowning accident in January that year. He explained that his Christian faith gave him the courage to face the future.
On 8 February 2015, Kuffour was shaved as he vowed on live TV in the Super sports studios following the Black Stars failure to win the AFCON 2015 as he predictedÂ
 
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ReferencesÂ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Kuffour
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