Sulley Ali Muntari apologized to the Ghana Football Association and Ghanaians after his behavior at the Brazil World cup where he had misunderstanding with some management members of Ghana Blacks Stars.
Sulley Ali Muntari (born 27 August 1984) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for Ghana Premier League side Hearts of Oak. Muntari formally retired in
August 2019 but came out of retirement to play for side Hearts of Oak in January of 2022.
During his time with Internazionale, he helped the team win the Champions League in 2009–10 and the Serie A title in 2008–09 and 2009–10. He was also part of the Portsmouth team that won the FA Cup in 2007–08. After becoming a full international in 2002, Muntari earned over 80 caps for the Ghanaian national team and was selected for two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and three FIFA World Cups.
He is the elder brother of Tambov player Sulley Muniru.
Muntari’s abilities first came to light in youth tournaments, while he was playing for Liberty Professionals youth team. He became a regular member of Ghana under-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.Despite impressing during a trial with Manchester United after the tournament,he ended up joining Italian club Udinese.
He joined Udinese in 2001, where his first season was spent in the reserves. He made his first-team debut on 6 November 2002, against Milan.
In his second full season, he made 23 appearances, and increased his standing to 33 appearances the following season,although indiscipline saw him sent off three times in 16 matches in the 2006–07 season. He left Udinese for Portsmouth after five seasons in Italy.
Sulley Muntari has played for teams like Portsmouth, Internazionale, Ittihad FC, Pescara, Deportivo La Coruña and Albacete.
Muntari represented Black Starlets at the 2001 Meridian Cup, including a 1–1 draw with Portugal and losing to Italy 0–1.
Muntari then was chosen for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship as Ghana took second place.
He won his first senior cap against Slovenia on 17 May 2002, and became a regular fixture in the team as The Black Stars opened their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He was selected for the Olympic side at Athens 2004, but was sent home for disciplinary reasons. This started a dispute between Muntari and the Ghana Football Association (GFA), and he said that he would refuse to play for his country again, setting the “record” for the youngest international retirement. He retracted, making a public apology to the Association, and was selected for the 2006 World Cup squad. He played in the first two matches, a 2–0 defeat by Italy and a 2–0 win over the Czech Republic, in which he scored, but having received a yellow cards in each game. He was suspended for the game against the United States, but returned for the second round match against Brazil, in which Ghana was eliminated.
He remained a regular member of the team, and appeared in the 2008 African Cup of Nations side, scoring the winner in the first group match against Guinea and the second goal in the last group match against Morocco.
Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Hearts of Oak or just Hearts, is a professional sports club based in Accra (Greater Accra), Ghana.Founded in 1911, the club is the oldest surviving football club in Ghana and its traditional colours are red, yellow and blue. Hearts of Oak competes in the Ghana Premier League, the premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid.
The Accra Sports Stadium is the club’s home grounds, where it plays its home games.
Hearts has won the Premier League twenty-one times, the Ghanaian FA Cup a record eleven times,the Ghana Super Cup, a joint record three times the President’s Cup four times,and the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederations Cup once each.Accra Hearts of Oak was also ranked eighth football club in the world in the year 2000 when the club dominated most of the continent’s sporting activities.
Accra Hearts of Oak remains the only football club in West Africa to have won a Continental Treble. During the colonial period, Hearts of Oak won a combined total of 8 football league trophies in the Accra Football League and the Gold Coast Club Competition, both precursors to the Ghana Premier League.In the Accra Football League, Hearts of Oak won the Guggisberg Shield donated by Sir Gordon Guggisberg, Governor of the Gold Coast in 1922; the competition for Accra-based clubs was played on 12 occasions between 1922 and 1954; Hearts of Oak won the Shield 6 times, including the final tournament played in 1954.