Young Aussie Feature: Kofi Danning

Kofi Danning is one of the most impressive youngsters playing in the Hyundai A-League

Date of Birth: 02.03.1991
Position: Right winger, striker

Club: Sydney FC

Kofi Danning is a true star in the making and fast becoming a “fan-s favourite” at his current club Sydney FC.Pace, strength and powerful running are his main attributes and his size and speed defy his young age.

After being spotted playing in the capital, he-s become another product of the Australian Institute of Sport, where he made the next step in his career after being signed up and playing in the National Youth League.

Moving onto Sydney, Kofi wasted no time in becoming an influential figure in the side that won the first ever Youth League Grand Final 2-0 over Adelaide.

After a number of impressive performances in the youth team, he was offered a contract in the senior squad at the end of 2008/09 season. At a mere 19-years-old, he-s become a first team regular at Sydney and has so far appeared nine times as we head into the Christmas period.

He announced himself to the Sydney faithful after bagging the winner against Wellington at the SFS in season 2008/09.

Receiving the ball out on the left the 17-year-old Danning cut inside, squared the ball to Steve Corica who played a great ball to Brosque.

Brosque in turn flicked the ball onto a flying Danning. Showing great poise, a precision toe poke past Phoenix ‘keeper Glen Moss was enough to open his account for Sydney. The rest of his season was unfortunately disappointing after he was ruled out for most of the campaign with a knee injury.

Now fully fit, the youngster is ready for bigger things and under the guidance of Vitezslav Lavicka, should prove to be a valuable member of the A-League squad in 2010/11. He-s already bagged a handful of goals in the last couple of seasons so he-s proving his worth in front of the goal too.

Having been a part of the double-winning Sydney FC squad in the 2009/10 season he already has an A-League Premiership and Championship medal so at the age of 19 he-s in good stead to go further in the game.

Although he was born in Ghana, Danning has made it clear that his loyalties lie with Australia and his excellent form was rewarded with a spot in the Qantas Young Socceroos squad for the 2009 FIFA U20 World Cup in Egypt.

Had it not been for the injury in his first season, I-m sure we would have seen a great deal more of Danning in the first team and the age group Australian sides. Having seen more game time in half of this season than all of last it-s set to be the break-through season Danning needed to get under his belt.

With his improving stature in the domestic game, he-s an almost certain pick for the Young Socceroos squad who will be competing in next year-s Under 20 World Cup in Colombia. After being part of the U19 side that reached the final of the Asian Championship in October, the coach will be hard-pressed to leave him out.