My Black Stars Career Almost Ended Due To My Dual Citizenship - Richard Kingson

Legendary Ghana goalkeeper, Richard “Olele” Kingson has recounted how having both Turkish and Ghanaians passports nearly ended his BlackStars career.

The former Blackpool and Galatasary goalkeeper speaking to MAX TV in an interview said his dual citizenship was the main reason why he lost his position in the national team to Sammy Adjei.

The 42-year-old further revealed that the issues started when he came to play two qualifying games, but had to urgently depart to Turkey for other matters.

“I played the first game against Burkina Faso in Burkina and we lost 1-0. The following week we were to play South Africa in Kumasi. So we came down to Ghana and started training,” Kingson said.

“Immediately I had to go back to Turkey. So I took my passport and this is where people think I had naturalized for Turkey.

“I had to go back to Turkey and even though I had Turkish passport and ID card but my ticket bought by the GFA used Richard Kingston, so I couldn’t use the Turkish passport so I left my Turkish passport in Turkey and had to fly with the Ghana passport.”

The former Ghana international added: “I needed to take a visa so I gave my passport for a visa and my passport was with the Turkish consulate in Accra.

“We were thinking I would get the visa before the game but consulate also travelled so I didn’t have my passport for inspection a day before the game which meant I was out of the game.

“So I have to go back and I was furious and sad and left the camp with a Taxi all the way to Accra. So I watched game on TV and since then I was not called again so Sammy Adjei took over from there.”

Kingson was capped 90 times by Ghana and was the Black Stars’ first-choice goalkeeper at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.