Charles Kumi Gyamfi was born on 4 December 1929. He was a renowned Ghanaian footballer and coach who enjoyed a celebrated playing career.
He was a prolific striker for traditional giants Ebusua Dwarfs, Asante Kotoko, Hearts of Oak, and the Ghanaian national team.
Gyamfi attended his primary school at the Accra Royal School in James Town. During his heyday in the 1950s, the press often hailed him as one of the most complete footballers to emerge from Africa.
C K Gyamfi trained in Germany and Brazil. In 1960, he made history by becoming the first Ghanaian footballer to sign a professional contract in Europe and the first black African to play in Germany, joining Fortuna Dusseldorf’s first team.
His exploits as a marksman for the German outfit earned him comparisons with the great Brazilian striker Pelé.
Gyamfi became the first black coach of the Black Stars in 1962, coached Africa XI sides in the early 1970s, and managed clubs in Somalia and Kenya to league titles in the 1980s.
As coach of Ghana’s national football team, he won the African Cup of Nations(AFCON) three times (1963, 1965 and 1982), making him the most successful coach in the competition’s history.
His record was only equalled by Egypt’s Hassan Shehata. Gyamfi also became the first coach to qualify a Sub-Saharan African national team for the football tournament of the Olympics (Tokyo 1964), reaching the quarter-final with Ghana during their Olympic debut.
After a few years of break, he returned to coach the Olympic team for the 1972 tournament.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) described Gyamfi as “a huge figure in Ghanaian and continental football folklore”, and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as “one of the most successful coaches in African football”.
He was a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group for the 1999 and 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. In the latter stages of his career, Gyamfi was a respected CAF and FIFA Technical Study Group member.
He was decorated with state awards in Ghana and Senegal and was honoured posthumously by CAF (with the Legend Award, 2016) and CISA (with the Best Technician Award, 2018).
C K Gyamfi died on the 2nd of September 2015, at age 85.
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