Eric Addo was a teenage prodigy, who made his international debut aged 19, but who spent years in the wilderness before making a remarkable fairytale return to Ghana’s squad for the last FIFA World Cup™ finals. Addo won the first of three caps under Dutch coach Rinus Israel for the Black Stars at the 1998 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals in Burkina Faso but never played for his country again until a recall from Ratomir Dujkovic on the eve of the tournament in Germany in 2006. Addo moved to Belgium as a talented teenager, playing 60 games in three seasons at Club Brugge before moving with coach Eric Gerets to PSV Eindhoven in 1999. During his time in Belgium he won the fabled ‘Ebony Shoe,’ the award for the best African player in Belgian football, as well as being named the best young footballer in Belgium in 1998.
Beset by injury and form problems, Addo struggled to find playing time at the Dutch club, but he suddenly burst back into the side in the 2005/06 season as PSV romped to the league title. PSV had loaned him to Roda JC Kerkrade for two seasons from 2002 to 2004 before recalling him to their squad, a hiatus that restored the confidence into the Accra-born defender. Addo, who is now 31, stayed at PSV until mid-2009, finishing 10 seasons in Eindhoven with a haul of six Dutch league titles. He moved back to Roda where he has spent the last two seasons. Addo was also a regular in Ghana’s 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, competing in 11 of their 12 qualifying contests, and he was one of the senior players at the 2010 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola, where he served as a back-up in a young and inexperienced squad.
