From finishing 32nd in class to becoming a world champion: How football changed Awudu Issaka’s life

In an interview with Dan Kwaku Yeboah, he said he was a constant member of the bottom three at the end of every term until his teacher who happened to be his coach discovered his footballing talent.

According to him, he often finished 32nd out of a class of 35 students at the end of the term.

“The biggest problem I had in school was after every exam, my position was 32 but the whole class we were 34.

Dan Kwaku who busted into laughter said: “32 out of 34, meaning who was the last?”

Issak hilariously explained why 32 was bad “I wasn’t last because 32 we call it will get better someday.”

He then narrated how his footballing talent miraculously helped him finish 16 in the next end-of-term exam.

“One day we played a game and I performed very well. The teacher was our coach and began to like me. So in the next exam, somebody that I’m always in 32-34, I came 16. My teacher helped me because of football, he put me at 16,” he said.

“So when they started mentioning the names, they mentioned number one, number two, and when they got to 16 and mentioned Awudu Issaka, all the students were like ‘hmmmm’.

He said he was surprised to hear his name.

“I was even surprised. I knew that this position wasn’t for me. But at least the teacher should have told me for me to be aware that I will appear in the middle. But he didn’t tell me and wanted to surprise me.”

Despite not being a nerd, Awudu Issaka lived through football to become a known figure in Ghana football.

His major success was winning the U-17 World Cup in 1995. He spent most of his career playing in Europe. He played for Anderlecht, Auxerure, and 1860 Munich.

Issaka retired in 2011 and now owns an academy where he grooms young talents in Ghana.

Watch Awudu Issaka narrate his story from the 17th minutes of the video below