Meet The Players

Sulley Muntari

Sulley Ali Muntari (born August 27, 1984 in Konongo, Ghana) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays for Portsmouth F.C. in England. He is a central midfielder, but can also play as left midfielder. He has 38 caps and 11 goals for Ghana, as of March 2008.

Early career

Muntari's abilities first came to light in youth tournaments, while he was playing for Liberty Professionals in Accra. He became a regular member of Ghana's U-20 team at the age of 16 as they finished runners-up at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina , losing out to the hosts in the final.^[1]

Udinese

He joined Udinese in 2001^{[2] [3]} where his first season was spent in the reserves, but he made his debut on 6 November 2002, against AC Milan.

In his second full season, he made 23 appearances, and increased his standing to 33 appearances the following season^[4], although indiscipline saw him sent off three times in 16 matches in the 2006/07 season ^[5].

Portsmouth

Muntari had already indicated a desire to move to the Premier League^[6], when in early 2007 transfer bids were received from Portsmouth^[7], AC Milan ^[8], Juventus ^[9], AS Roma^[10] and Inter Milan^[11].

He eventually opted for Portsmouth^[12] and transferred on 30 May 2007, for a new club record fee, believed to be around Ł7.1m, signing a five-year contract.^[13][14] He has been a regular member of the first XI throughout the 2007/08 season, scoring the winner from the spot in a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Another performance of note was away at Aston Villa where he scored two spectacular long-range goals. He was in the first XI that won the 2008 FA Cup Final.