This soccer team missed Philly’s inaugural Unity Cup. Eight years later, it has ‘finally arrived’

When the Philadelphia International Unity Cup kicked off in 2016, Team Ghana hadn’t heard about the World Cup-style soccer tournament designed to celebrate Philadelphia’s immigrant communities. George Attah-Asante, a coach for Ghana, got wind of the Unity Cup’s existence only after the registration deadline had passed.

“We had to wait for 2017 and just sit on the sidelines and watch people having fun and representing their countries,” said Attah-Asante, who immigrated from Jamasi, Ghana, to Northeast Philly in 2002.

Attah-Asante was in attendance as two other African nations, Liberia and Ivory Coast, took the field at Citizens Bank Park for the first Unity Cup final eight years ago. He watched the match unfold and thought to himself: “Yeah, we can do this.”

Now, Ghana is in Group I alongside Ethiopia and Jamaica for this year’s Unity Cup, which kicked off Friday and features 49 teams. Attah-Asante and Co. will be relying on their togetherness as they look to play their way to Subaru Park for the final on Oct. 5.

Initially, though, it was challenging to put a team together.

Attah-Asante, a graduate of Samuel Fels High School and La Salle, had been playing soccer with other Ghanaians in the northern part of the city a few years earlier, but he needed to find players in South Philly to fill the roster. Even then, only 60% of the 2017 team was Ghanaian, and it was eliminated in the tournament’s group stage.

The following year, a 1-0 overtime loss to Ireland in the Round of 16 devastated Ghana. It was ousted in the group stage once again in 2019, and that’s where it drew the line.

“After that, we made a decision that this is something we want to do not only for us, but for the generations to come,” Attah-Asante said. “We want to leave a Ghana team that they can play on, which means … we have to start thinking about the whole thing as a big picture, not just play and leave.”

Ghana started playing more competitive games outside of the Unity Cup, which propelled the team to the quarterfinals in 2021 and the semifinals last year, where it fell, 2-1, to defending champion Liberia. Max Akuamoah-Boateng, a left winger who joined the team in 2018, lists that game as his favorite Unity Cup memory. Though Ghana lost, he sees the team’s competitiveness against Liberia as evidence that it had “finally arrived.”

“To make it out of the group stage, make that long run, and play these high-performing teams toe-to-toe, it’s just solidifying that we’re doing something right,” said Akuamoah-Boateng, who immigrated to the States from Winneba, Ghana, at age 12.

Ghana hasn’t realized Attah-Asante’s dream of playing in the Unity Cup final at one of Philly’s big sports venues, but its journey has been a fair consolation prize.

Over the years, word-of-mouth has brought the team more local Ghanaian immigrants, who now make up close to 97% of the roster. Though English is the official language of Ghana (it was a British colony until 1957), Attah-Asante’s team speaks mostly in Akan, which is the country’s most popular indigenous language.

“What we do, I think most people in the Unity Cup don’t do that,” said Fred Amadi, the team’s 47-year-old captain from Aburi, Ghana.

Amadi, a Philly resident since 2002, played central midfield in the Ghanaian second division and dreamed of continuing his professional career when he came to the States. That didn’t work out, but he found Team Ghana in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. Amadi has seen the team’s Ghanaian presence rise since the beginning.

“We have a lot of Ghanaians in this community, but before, everybody was spread out,” Amadi said. “But as we go on here, a lot of people hear about the team. … It’s bringing a lot of guys together, and we give thanks to the Unity Cup for doing that.”

Added Akuamoah-Boateng: “Everywhere you go, especially Philly, there are those eclectic cultures of different countries. To come to Philly and know that there are this many Ghanaians around … gives us a reason to all come together.”

Team Ghana exemplifies how soccer can connect people. Some players attend local universities, while others are employed. Some work at airports, others in finance or social services. It has players living all around Philly, the suburbs, and even in New Jersey and Delaware — Attah-Asante calls it a “tristate team.” Some aren’t even Ghanaian, but might as well be.

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“When you put the ball down and pass, you have one shared language,” Akuamoah-Boateng said. “It created a space for us to make honorary Ghanaians. It’s really neat to be able to share the culture and encourage folks to connect and experience something different.”

Even down to the team’s skill level, there’s plenty of variety. Several members play for Philadelphia Lone Star FC, a preprofessional club based in Southwest Philly with long-standing ties to the city’s African communities. Others have played in college, including Akuamoah-Boateng at Hamilton College and midfielder Ben Asante at the University of Delaware.

Ghana has worked hard to establish itself as a force in the Unity Cup, but that hasn’t stopped the group from having fun. It’s hard to find a time when the sideline isn’t erupting with laughter, which is precisely the identity Attah-Asante is trying to build within the squad during his first year as coach.

“When I took over the team, one of my main things was to get the team loose,” Attah-Asante said. “… I tried to get the new guys to fit in seamlessly, and the only way I know how, from my background and my personality, is just to make people laugh.”

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Ghana’s lighthearted approach comes off as unserious to some of its opponents, but once the referee’s whistle blows, Attah-Asante insists, everything is business. Based on the team’s results, that’s hard to dispute.

Off the pitch, it’s more of the same. Players gather to watch professional matches, and if they’re not physically together, they’re texting about an ongoing game in the team group chat.

Ghana also holds an annual team party after the Unity Cup. They get food catered from Mama Shan’s African & Soul Food Cuisine, a North Philly restaurant that serves Ghanaian classics like waakye (Ghanaian rice and beans) and cassava leaf stew. In addition to helping newer players acclimate to life in the states, Ghana’s camaraderie has kept the team grounded.

“As soon as we start fighting, there is no team,” Attah-Asante said. “That’s what I try to infuse — get everybody calm and understanding that it’s OK for us to fight on the field … but once we step out of the yellow line, we can’t fight. Because of that, for all these years, we’ve had that respect.”