Nii Odartey Lamptey was born on 10 December 1974 and is a Ghanaian former professional footballer and current manager of Elmina Sharks as well as the proprietor of a school in Accra called Glow-Lamp International School.
31 Facts About Nii Lamptey
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Nii Lamptey is known foremost for his erratic career, in which he became a superstar as a teenager and then suffered a long string of failures which burnt him out well before his time.
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Nii Lamptey played for Anderlecht, Venezia, Boca Juniors, Union Santa Fe, Ankaragucu, Uniao Leiria, Greuther Furth, Shandong Luneng, Al-Nassr, Asante Kotoko and Jomo Cosmos.
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Nii Lamptey was born in Tema, but grew up in the two biggest Ghanaian cities, Accra and Kumasi.
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Nii Lamptey had a miserable childhood, as his parents abused and neglected him.
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Nii Lamptey's father was an alcoholic who often beat and lashed him and sometimes burnt his body with cigarettes.
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Nii Lamptey often refused to spend the nights home and frequently skipped school, only finding refuge in football.
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When Nii Lamptey was eight, his parents divorced, and his stepfather threw him out of the household.
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Nii Lamptey found refuge in a Muslim football camp and converted from Christianity to Islam to qualify for entry.
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Nii Lamptey played for the youth team Young Corners in Accra, but wanted to move abroad to play.
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Nii Lamptey therefore was smuggled into Nigeria by a taxi driver, where he met Nigerian captain Stephen Keshi, who had heard of his skills.
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Nii Lamptey was hailed as the new Pele and age limit rules in Belgium were changed to allow him to debut at the age of 16 for Anderlecht.
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Nii Lamptey's first season was a success, scoring 7 goals in 14 games.
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Nii Lamptey was loaned to Eindhoven, and quickly established himself as a prolific scorer, and continued to impress, scoring 10 times in 22 games.
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However, Nii Lamptey had signed an exclusive marketing contract with an Italian player agent.
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Nii Lamptey's illiteracy allowed Caliendo to take advantage of him, even pocketing a signing on bonus intended for Nii Lamptey.
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Nii Lamptey failed to impress at Villa Park, scoring just three times, all of which came in the League Cup against Wigan Athletic.
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Nii Lamptey was not entirely unsuccessful, being a reliable backup, but was found too fragile for the rough 2.
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Nii Lamptey was reportedly ignored by his German colleagues, and once, a colleague flat-out refused to sleep in the same hotel room as him.
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On 5 March 2007, Nii Lamptey signed for South African side Jomo Cosmos.
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Nii Lamptey led Ghana to win the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship with the team known as the Black Starlets after playing in the 1989 version as a 15-year-old.
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Nii Lamptey was touted as the next Pele; by Pele himself.
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Nii Lamptey later stated that although appreciated, Pele's praise made life far harder for him, since everyone therefore had extremely high expectations of him that he was not always able to fulfill.
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The adidas Golden Ball could only go to one of the members of the victorious Ghanaian side, and so it was, with Nii Lamptey taking home a very special souvenir from his Italian sojourn.
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Nii Lamptey served as a pundit on Ghanaian television during the 2014 World Cup.
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Nii Lamptey founded Glow-lamp International School, so as to give back to society and ensure than children have the chance to learn to read and write: something he was never able to do.
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Nii Lamptey has a football academy he coaches at in Elmina.
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Nii Lamptey has said that despite everything, he does not feel like a loser, but rather as a hardened survivor who refuses to be destroyed, and whom God will not punish.
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Nii Lamptey had five children, of whom two died to lung diseases.
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Nii Lamptey has had a feud with Ghanaian star Abedi Pele, but refuses to disclose the reason.
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Nii Lamptey owns a football academy in Elmina that he coaches at.