Sandra Owusu-Ansah

Sandra Owusu-Ansah
Personal information
Full name Sandra Owusu-Ansah
Date of birth (2000-01-29) 29 January 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth Kumasi, Ghana
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Spartak Subotica
Number 9
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Fabulous Ladies
2016–2017 Supreme Ladies
2017–2018 Zouk Mosbeh
2019–2021 Supreme Ladies (10)
2021– Spartak Subotica 0 (0)
International career
2014–2016 Ghana U17 10 (6)
2015–2018 Ghana U20 18 (8)
2020– Ghana 2 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sandra Owusu-Ansah (born 29 January 2000) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serbian Women's Super League side ZFK Spartak Subotica and the Ghana women's national football team.[1][2][3] She represented Ghana at the U17 level at two World Cups in 2014 and 2016, serving as the captain in the latter[4][5] whilst representing them at the U20 level at two World Cups in 2016 and 2018.

Early life and education

Owusu-Ansah was born on 29 January 2000 in Kumasi, the capital city of Ashanti Region to Kofi Owusu Ansah and Madam Yaa Pokuaa. She attended T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Kumasi for her secondary school education. She was a member of the school's football team.[6][7][8]

Club career

Fabulous Ladies 2014–16

Owusu-Ansah started her career with Fabulous Ladies founded by Habiba Atta Forson. She was also a member of the Airtel Rising Stars (Ashanti Zone), a colt (juvenile) football talent hunt started by Airtel in Africa that sought to discover and nurture talented under 17 years male and female footballers who would have gone unnoticed and untapped.[9]

Zouk Mosbeh 2017–18

Owusu-Ansah moved to Lebanese-based Zouk Mosbeh in September 2017 on a one-year contract.[10] In her only season in Lebanon, she won the League, FA Cup and Super Cup with her Ghanaian compatriot Alice Kusi emerging as the top scorer of the league.[11] She got injured during the last match of the league which caused her to miss the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations and stay out on the touchline for more than a year.[12][13][2]

Supreme Ladies 2020–21

In 2020, she to her former club Ghana Women's Premier League side Supreme Ladies in a bid to revive her career after a long injury lay off. She served as the club captain during the 2020–21. In the month April, she scored 4 goals in 4 league matches and was nominated for the NASCO GWPL Player of the Month for April.[14] At the end of the 2020–21 season, she scored 10 goals ending the season as the club's top goal scorer and third top goal scorer in the league. Her goal against Kumasi Sports Academy was nominated for the goal of the season at the 2021 Ghana Football Awards.[15]

Spartak Subotica 2021–

On 2 August 2021, Serbian Women's Super League champions ZFK Spartak Subotica announced that they had signed Owusu-Ansah on a one-year deal ahead of the 2021–22 season. She was set to join her compatriot Alice Kusi who had also joined the club.[16][1]

International career

Youth

Owusu Ansah played has capped for Ghana at all levels starting from the U-17 level, the Black Princesses. She was named in the squad for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup at the age of 14.[17][18] She scored two goals, one against South Korea and the other against Canada, as Ghana topped their group to qualify for the quarter-finals.[19] They were however eliminated by Italy after a penalty shootout.

She was immediately promoted to the U-20 team, the Black Maidens,[20] where she scored four goals during the 2015 African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament to end as the team's top scorer and help Ghana qualify for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. In 2016, whilst she was still eligible to play for the U17 side, with her previous experience she was named as the captain of the side, scoring two goals African U-17 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament to help Ghana secure a place at the world cup.

She made the squad for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in September 2016.[21] After a 5–0 loss to Japan in their first group match, she scored in the following two matches against United States[22] and Paraguay to help Ghana progress into the quarter-finals.[23][24] They were however eliminated in the quarter-finals by North Korea after they scored a goal 90 minutes, and four minutes of additional time. Her goal against Paraguay was nominated for the goal of the tournament award by FIFA.[25]

Two months after captaining the U17 at the World Cup, in October 2016, she made the squad for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[26] During the tournament, she scored a goal against France and was adjudged the player of the match,[27] however Ghana were eliminated at the group stages.[28] In 2018, she had become one of the key performers of the U20 side along with Ernestina Abambila and Princella Adubea. She scored 2 goals, whilst Adubea scored 10 goals during the qualifying tournament to help Ghana seal their spot for 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. In July 2018, she made the squad for the main tournament, however before the start of the tournament Adubea got injured.[29] Without her striking partner, she and her team struggled at the tournament and were eliminated in the group stages. She managed to score only a goal in the tournament in Ghana's 4–1 loss to France. At the end of the competition, she expressed the difficulty in their play due to absence of Adubea.[30]

Senior

In March 2017, there were calls from the general public for her to be included in the senior team, however the head coach of the side Yusif Basigi stated that there was need for a good transition of promoting into the senior team.[31] In October 2018, She was called up to the Ghana national team in 2018 ahead of the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations, with Ghana as the host nation.[32] She was ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover from injury she picked whilst playing for Zouk Mosbeh in the final match of the Lebanese League. Despite joining the team for two preparatory games against Zambia and Kenya, she failed to recover and didn't make the final squad.[12][13][2] On 30 November 2020, in a match against Morocco she scored a brace in a four-minute spell to secure a 2–0 victory for Ghana.[33][34]

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 19 February 2023 Stade de l'Amitié, Cotonou, Benin  Benin 3–0 3–0 Friendly

Honours

Zouk Mosbeh[11]

Spartak Subotica

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b Agency, Ghana News. "Sandra Owusu Ansah pens one-year deal with ZFK Spartak Subotica FC | News Ghana". News Ghana. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "BIG BLOW: Black Queens forward Sandra Owusu Ansah ruled out of AWCON 2018". GhanaSoccernet. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Black Queens striker Sandra Owusu Ansah to undergo surgery after Sports Minister's intervention". Ghana Sports Online. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  4. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Captain fantastic leads Ghana through". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Owusu-Ansah eyes goal queen in Women's U17 WC | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Sports Achievemnts - T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School-Kumasi Real Amass". Real Amass. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Events When AMASSing wealth doesn't come with bad news - T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School-Kumasi Real Amass". Real Amass. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  8. ^ "FIFA World Cup: For Sandra Owusu-Ansah, graduation comes with a penalty kick". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  9. ^ Ghana, News. "The Story Behind Abiba Attah & Airtel Rising Stars | News Ghana". News Ghana. Retrieved 3 August 2021. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Black Princesses captain Sandra Owusu Ansah signs for Zouk Mosbeh Girls FC in Lebanon". GhanaSoccernet. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Adams, Nuhu (18 January 2018). "Duo Alice Kusi and Sandra Owusu Ansah win three trophies with Lebanese side Zouk Mosbeh FC". GhanaSoccernet. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Injured Black Queens forward Sandra Owusu Ansah confident Ghana can win AWCON 2018". GhanaSoccernet. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Ghana 2018: Black Queens' Sandra Owusu Ansah to miss Tournament". Starr Fm. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Serwaa Amponsah, Amfobea, Sessu and Owusu Ansah shortlisted for Player of the Month for April". GhanaWeb. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Andre Ayew, Kudus Mohammed and Gladson Awako battle for Ghana Footballer of the Year Award - MyJoyOnline.com". www.myjoyonline.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Black Queens striker Sandra Owusu Ansah completes move to Serbian side ZFK Spartak Subotica FC". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Ghana – Squad List". FIFA. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  18. ^ "Ghana includes youngest player at World Cup in squad". www.ghanafa.org. Ghana Football Association. 7 March 2014. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  19. ^ Association, Ghana Football. "Black Maidens off to a winning start in World Cup". www.ghanafa.org. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Black Princesses striker Sandra Owusu-Ansah avoids complacency ahead of Kenya game". Ghana Sports Online. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  21. ^ "Ghana name squad for Women's U17 World Cup | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  22. ^ "U-17 WWC: Ghana rallies past U.S." Concacaf. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  23. ^ "FIFA U17 Women's World Cup: Ghana shock USA with come-from-behind 2-1 win". GhanaSoccernet. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  24. ^ "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: Captain Owusu Ansah's stunner propels Black Maidens to quarters - MyJoyOnline.com". www.myjoyonline.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  25. ^ "FIFA U17 WWC: Sandra Owusu Ansah's goal for top award". GhanaWeb. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Black Maidens captain Sandra Owusu earns Black Princesses call-up". GhanaWeb. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Sandra Owusu Ansah wins Player of the Match in disappointing Black Princesses draw". GhanaSoccernet. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  28. ^ "Black Princesses forward Sandra Owusu-Ansah admits missing strike partner Princella Adubea at the World Cup". GhanaSoccernet. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  29. ^ Okeleji, Oluwashina (27 July 2018). "African duo name U-20 Women's World Cup squads". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  30. ^ "Owusu-Ansah and Ghana not giving up the fight". fifa.com. FIFA. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  31. ^ "Ghana U17 female star Sandra Owusu-Ansah will not be rushed into Black Queens – Basigi". GhanaSoccernet. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  32. ^ "Sandra Owusu Ansah arrives on time to join Black Queens team in Zambia". Ghana Sports Online. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  33. ^ Osman, Abdul Wadudu (30 November 2020). "Match Report: Ghana 2-0 Morroco [sic] - Sandra Owusu Ansah's brace hands Black Queens double win over Atlas Lionesses". Football Made in Ghana. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Ghana 2-0 Morocco: Owusu-Ansah brace seals double for Black Queens | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  35. ^ "FIFA Puskás Award: 11 best goals announced". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.