John Antwi

For the Ghanaian Olympic sprinter, see John Asare-Antwi.

John Antwi

Personal information
Full name	John Antwi Duku
Date of birth	(1992-08-06) 6 August 1992 (age 31)[1]
Place of birth	Sekondi, Ghana[2]
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Al-Faisaly SC
Youth career
2008–2010	Dreams F.C.
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2012	Sekondi Eleven Wise	0	(0)
2013–2015	Ismaily	52	(31)
2015	Al Shabab	16	(4)
2015–2018	Al Ahly SC	29	(10)
2017–2018	→ Misr El-Makasa (loan)	33	(22)
2018–2019	Misr El-Makasa	28	(11)
2019–2021	Pyramids	47	(9)
2021–2022	Tala'ea El Gaish SC	7	(1)
2023–2023	Al-Faisaly SC
2023–	Dreams F.C. (Ghana)
International career^‡
2017–	Ghana	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11 February 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 2020

John Antwi Duku (born 6 August 1992) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for Dreams F.C. (Ghana) as a striker. At the international level, he has featured twice for Ghana national football team.

Club career

Dreams F.C.

The footballing career of John Antwi began with Dreams F.C., a Ghanaian club that competed in the third division of the league.^[3] While playing for Dreams F.C. he was invited to the 2010–2011 preseason training programme of Accra Hearts of Oak SC. The invitation was proved fruitful as his form showed by scoring five goals in seven friendly matches.^[2][3]

Sekondi Eleven Wise

Antwi began his professional football career with Sekondi Eleven Wise in the Ghanaian coastal city of Sekondi in 2011.^[3] His performances for Eleven Wise earned him trials with Egyptian sides Al Ahly and Beni Suef Telephones.^[1][3][4] He played for the Ghanaian club for a year before being sold to Egyptian club Ismaily in 2012.^[4]

Ismaily SC

Antwi joined Egyptian Premier League side Ismaily in December 2012 on a five-year deal. He was purchased for two hundred and fifty thousand US$. Antwi settled quickly to life in the Egyptian league.^[5] In his first season with Ismaily SC he scored a total of nine goals in as many official games he played with them.^[1][6]

Prior to the cancellation of the Egyptian Premier League due to the June 2013 political crisis, John scored two goals in CAF Confederation Cup matches, two goals in the Egypt Cup and five goals in the Egyptian Premier League.^[3][4][7][8] As at the end of the day two of the 2013–2014 Egyptian Premier League, Antwi was the leading top scorer with four goals.^[4][5][9] By the time his second season with Egyptian league side Ismaily ended, he had scored 11 goals in 16 matches to win the top scorer of the league.^[4]

Al Shabab FC

On 26 January 2015, Antwi joined the Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab after Ismaily agreed to a deal for $2,200,000 in a two-and-half-year contract.^[10] On 6 February, Antwi made his club debut as a replacement for Abdulmajeed Al Sulaiheem in the 52nd minute against Al Khaleej, but he failed to score as the match ended in 1–0 away defeat.^[11] On 12 February, Antwi was chosen for the starting XI for the match against Al Fateh, he scored his first goal for the club in the 61st minute as the match ended 2–2.^[12]

Al Ahly

On 15 June 2015, Antwi signed a four-year deal with Al Ahly.^[13] The match of his career with Al-Ahly was against El-Gouna in round of 16 of the Egyptian cup. He scored a "Super Hatrick" as the match ended with a record of 13/0 for Al-Ahly. On 22 September in the final game of the Egyptian cup against Zamalek, he failed to score any goal. The match ended 2/0 for Zamalek. He was awarded the "Golden Shoe" trophy by scoring 4 goals in the Egyptian cup.

Misr El-Makasa

In January 2017, Antwi was signed by Misr El-Makasa on a 6-month loan deal for a reported US$100,000 fee until the end of the season.^[14] He went on and scored 10 league goals within that period helping them to second place in the 2016–17.^[15] He ended the season as the third joint top goal scorer with 11 goals including scoring one goal for Al Ahly during the first round of the season before joining Misr El-Makasa.

Due to his performances in the previous season, his loan deal was extended by a year for the 2017–18 season.^[15] During that season, he made 22 goal contributions including scoring 16 goals and making 6 assists, ending his season as the second top goal scorer trailing Ahly forward Walid Azaro by 2 goals.

His impressive scoring run, triggered the team to put in a bid to sign him outrightly by activating his buyout clause of US$600,000.^[16] In June 2018, he was signed ahead of the 2018–19 season.^[1] Antwi made 28 league appearances and scored 11 goals at the end of the season.^[1] That season, he made history as he surpassed Ernest Papa Arko who scored 61 goals as the highest foreign scorer in the Egyptian Premier league with 63 goals after scoring a hat-trick during a match against ENPPI.^[17][18][19] Throughout his 2+1⁄2 seasons, he scored 40 goals, made 10 assists in 76 appearances in all competitions.^[20]

Pyramids

In April 2019, Misr El-Makasa reportedly rejected a Zamalek swap deal for Kasongo Kabongo.^[21] A month later on 30 July 2019, Antwi was acquired by Cairo side Pyramids on a 5-year deal for a US$1.5 million. He was set to earn $600,000 per season.^[20] On 6 September 2020, after scoring his side's lone goal in their away defeat 2–1 to El-Gouna SC set a milestone in Egyptian football by becoming the first foreign player to score a 100th goal with Egyptian clubs in all competitions.^{[22][23][24][25]} He helped the club to their first CAF Confederation Cup in 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup which they lost to Moroccan side RS Berkane.^[26][27]

International career

Youth career

Antwi was named as a member of the provisional team for the 2013 FIFA U-20 Youth Championships.^[28][29]

Senior career

The goal scoring exploits of John Antwi are closely monitored in his home country of Ghana. In mid-2013 there were several calls for the player to be included in the Ghana National Football Team, the Black Stars, for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.^[30] Though the player was omitted from the national team, his form has continued to encourage the handlers of the national team who continue to watch his progress.^[5][30][31] He was called up to the senior Ghana squad for a World Cup qualifier against Uganda in October 2017.^[32] On 10 October 2017, he made his debut after coming on at half-time for Raphael Dwamena in a 3–0 victory over Saudi Arabia.^[33][34] After two years, he received call ups to the national team for 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan November 2020. He came on in the 67th minute with Ghana eventually losing to Sudan through a goal in the 90th minute.^[35] He received a call up to the team for the subsequent matches last matches against South Africa and São Tomé and Príncipe but didn't feature in any of them.^[36]

Honours

Al Ahly^[1]

• Egyptian Premier League: 2015–16,^[1] 2016–17^[37]
• Egyptian FA Cup runner up: 2015, 2016^[1]

Pyramids^[1]

• CAF Confederation Cup runner-up: 2019–20^[1]
• Egyptian FA Cup runner up: 2018–19

Individual

• Egyptian Premier League top scorer: 2013–14
• Egyptian FA Cup top scorer: 2015, 2018–19

Records

• All-time highest foreign scorer in the Egyptian Premier league: 78 goals^[19][1]
• All-time highest foreign scorer in all competitions with Egyptian clubs: 102 goals^[22][1]

References

1. "J. Antwi Summary Matches". soccerway.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
2. "John Antw". footballdatabase.eu/. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
3. "John Antwi. Biography". www.footballtop.com. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
4. "Meet John Antwi, the Egyptian Premier League top scorer". ghanasoccernet.com/. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
5. "Egypt league top-scorer John Antwi eyes Black Stars call-up". www.modernghana.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
6. "Home / Featured / John Antwi setting Egypt ablaze John Antwi setting Egypt ablaze". www.allsports.com.gh. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
7. "John Antwi seals three points for Ismaily with a brace against El Daklyeh". www.goal.com/en-gh/news. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
8. "The 20-year-old has become a center of attraction in Egypt after scoring two goals for Ismaily against Daklyeh over the weekend". goal.com/en-gh/news/. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
9. "Video: Ghanaian Striker John Antwi Grabs Brace For Ismaili In Egyptian League". www.ghanamma.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
10. "John Antwi finalizes move to Al Shabab". Kingfut. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
11. "John Antwi tastes defeat in Al Shabab debut". GhanaWeb. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
12. "John Antwi opens Al Shabab account after his first goal". AllSports. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
13. "John Antwi pens four-year deal with Al-Ahly". KingFut. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
14. "Al Ahly's John Antwi moves on loan to Misr El-Maqassa for US$ 100,000". Footballghana. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
15. "John Antwi set to extend Misr El Maqassa loan deal". GhanaWeb. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
16. "Egyptian side El-Makkasa set to activate John Antwi's buyout clause". GhanaWeb. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
17. "Egyptian side Misr El-Makasa name price tag for in-form John Antwi". Happy Ghana. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
18. "Misr Lel Makasa vs. ENPPI - 25 November 2018 - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
19. Talaat, Tarek (25 November 2018). "Ghana's Antwi makes history in Egypt". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
20. "Pyramids paid $1.5m to sign Misr El-Makassa forward John Antwi". GhanaWeb. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
21. "Misr El Makasa reject Zamalek's swap deal to sign John Antwi". GhanaWeb. 28 April 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
22. Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Antwi benchmarks century of goals with Egyptian clubs". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
23. "Ghana's John Antwi reaches 100 goals in Egypt – Panafricanfootball". 7 September 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
24. Sienu, Sheikh Tophic (8 September 2020). "Ghana FA congratulates John Antwi for becoming first foreign player to score 100 goals in Egypt". Football Made In Ghana. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
25. Taiwo, Taiye (7 September 2020). "Ghana striker Antwi makes goalscoring history in Egyptian football | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
26. Teye, Prince Narkortu (25 October 2020). "Caf Confederation Cup: Antwi's Pyramids bow to Berkane in final". www.goal.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
27. "Pyramids lose CAF Confederation Cup final". EgyptToday. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
28. "Ghanaian youngster John Antwi scores for Ismaily in Egypt". www.nigeriasoccernet.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
29. "Ghanaian youngster John Antwi scores for Ismaily in Egypt". GhanaSoccernet. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
30. "Striker John Antwi knocking on the door of Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah". www.ghanasoccernet.com. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
31. "Egypt league top-scorer John Antwi eyes Black Stars call-up". www.ghanasoccernet.com/. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
32. "John Antwi included as Ghana announce squad for Uganda qualifier". kingfut.com. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
33. Akyereko, Akwasi (10 October 2017). "Egypt-based striker John Antwi finally makes Ghana debut in massive win over Saudi Arabia". Ghana Sports Online. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
34. "Antwi shines on Black Stars debut". GhanaWeb. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
35. "Match Report of Sudan vs Ghana - 2020-11-17 - Total Africa Cup of Nations Qualification - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
36. Ismail, Ali (20 March 2021). "Pyramids FC striker Antwi named in Ghana national team squad". KingFut. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
37. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "John Antwi". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.

External links

• John Antwi at Soccerway
• John Antwi at Global Sports Archive