| Player Profile | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Suleyman Ali ‘Sulley’ Muntari |
| Nationality | Ghanian |
| Date of Birth | 27th August 1984 |
| Club | Retired |
| Position | Midfield |
History of Sulley Muntari
Suleyman Ali Muntari, simply known as Sulley Muntari, is one of the top Ghanaian footballers of all time. He was born on Monday, 27th August 1984, which means he shares the same birth date as fellow professional footballer David Bentley.
Sulley was born in Konongo, a gold mining community in the Ashanti region, located in Southern Ghana. Little is known about how he initially got into football, but clearly, Sulley Muntari comes from a family with talent, as his younger brother Sulley Ali Sariki Muniru is also a professional footballer.
Sulley Muntari in Ghana
Muntari first caught the eye playing for Liberty Professionals youth team in 2000–2001, when he was 16. During this period, he also represented the Ghana U20 team at the 2001 World Youth Championship, where he made seven appearances and helped his side reach the final. His impressive performances earned him a trial with Premier League giants Manchester United; however, he went on to join the Italian team Udinese.
Sulley Muntari Overseas Career
At the age of 17, Sulley Muntari chose to leave his homeland to further his career in Europe.
Udinese 2001–2007
Having joined Udinese in 2001, Sulley Muntari spent the entirety of his first season in the reserves. However, he broke through into the first team the following year and never looked back. His Serie A debut came against AC Milan on 6th November 2002, and he went on to make another 13 appearances that season.
Muntari began to feature more regularly in 2003–2004, as he notched up 28 league and cup appearances. The year after, he was a regular on the team sheet with 33 Serie A appearances, and he also scored his first senior goals in that season.
Overall, Sulley Muntari spent six seasons with Udinese, where he played against Italy’s finest like Juventus, AC Milan and Inter. He made a total of 153 appearances, scoring nine goals.
Portsmouth 2007–2008
Muntari had stated his desire to play in the English Premier League, and his dream came true when Portsmouth tabled a £7.1 million bid for him. At the time, this was a club-record fee, so it’s no surprise that Sulley was one of the first names on the team sheet every week.
He made his Premier League debut on August the 11th against Derby County; however, his most notable performance came against Aston Villa when he scored two superb long-range goals.
Muntari also had his name up in lights by scoring the winner in the 6th round FA Cup tie against Manchester United. He started the FA Cup final that year, which Portsmouth won by beating Cardiff City.
Internazionale 2008–2012
Sulley’s impressive displays in the Premier League captured the attention of Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, and on 24th July 2008, he signed for the Italian giants for a fee of €14 million.
Muntari featured in 38 games in his first season with Inter, which included his debut in the Champions League. He scored five goals and helped his side win the Scudetto and Supercoppa Italiana.
Arguably, the best season of his career came in 2009– 2010. Yet again, he was a regular in Mourinho’s squad, and he notched up 42 appearances, the most he ever achieved in a single season.
Although he only scored two goals, Sulley Muntari helped Inter Milan win the Serie A title for the second time running, the Coppa Italia, and the Champions League. At the time, Muntari was only the fourth Ghanaian footballer to win the Champions League, which highlights this outstanding achievement.
A change of manager and overall drop in form by the club led Sulley Muntari to hand in a transfer request in January 2011. Later that month, he agreed to a loan deal with English Premier League Sunderland. However, they decided not to sign him permanently, so Sulley returned to Inter.
AC Milan 2012–2015
Muntari began the 2011–2012 season with Inter; however, he only made 4 appearances, so he sought another move. This happened in January 2018 when he joined city rivals AC Milan on loan. After a successful spell in which he scored three goals in 13 appearances, AC Milan signed Muntari on a 3-year deal.
In a cruel twist, he picked up an injury playing beach football which sidelined him for the first half of the 2012–2013 season. However, he was back in Champions League action by the knockout phase. In fact, he scored one of his most notable Champions League goals that year in a 2-0 win over Barcelona.
A fantastic 2013–2014 season saw Sulley Muntari score six goals in 34 appearances for AC Milan. However, he fell out of favour the following year when Inzaghi was appointed head coach of the seven-time European Cup and Champions League winners. He left AC Milan by mutual consent on 30th June 2015.
Ittihad
In July 2018, Sulley joined the Saudi Arabian side Ittihad. He spent just over one season there, scoring three goals in 29 appearances. Following that, he moved to Pescara in Serie A before moving to Deportivo La Coruna in 2018. After a spell of inactivity, Muntari joined Albacete in January 2019. He played there for the remainder of the season before hanging his boots up.
Sulley Muntari International Career
Sulley first represented Ghana at U17 level; however, it was for Ghana U20s when he truly started to shine. After playing a key role in the 2001 World Youth Championship, he got his first call up to the Black Stars senior side in 2002.
After being selected for the Olympic team in 2004, Sulley was sent home for disciplinary reasons. This led to him saying he would never play for the Black Stars again. He changed his mind and was back in the team for the 2006 World Cup.
He went on to appear in two more World Cups for Ghana (2010 and 2014) as well as playing in the African Cup of Nations. Muntari notched up an impressive 84 caps for his country, scoring 20 goals over a 12-year spell.
| Sulley Muntari Teams (Senior Career) | Period |
|---|---|
| Udinese | 2001–2007 |
| Portsmouth | 2007–2008 |
| Inter Milan | 2008–2012 |
| Sunderland (loan) | 2011 |
| AC Milan (loan) | 2012 |
| AC Milan | 2012-2015 |
| Ittihad | 2015–2017 |
| Pescara | 2017 |
| Deportivo La Coruna | 2018 |
| Albacete | 2019 |
Where Can I Bet On?
While you can’t bet on Sulley Muntari to score this weekend, there are many other exciting footballers from Ghana, like Jordan Ayew and Mohammed Kudus, that are worth a shout. Here is one of the top betting sites in Ghana where you can get competitive odds:
FAQs about Sulley Muntari
From playing in a Champions League final to appearing in three World Cups, Sulley Muntari had a stellar career. To round things off, here’s a quick FAQ.
Sulley Muntari is from Ghana. He was born in Konongo.
Sulley Muntari is now retired from professional football.
Sulley was a left-footed midfielder.
Sulley is represented by Excellence Sport agency.
When Sulley joined Inter Milan in 2008, he was given the number 20 jersey.
Sulley Muntari won several awards throughout his career, including:
– One Champions League
– One English FA Cup
– Two Serie A Titles
– Two Italian Cups
– One Italian Super Cup
– One Club World Cup
