Yaw Preko

Yaw Preko (born 8 September 1974) is a former Ghanaian football player. He has played for Ghana national team.

Yaw Preko

Personal information
Date of birth	(1974-09-08) 8 September 1974
Place of birth	Ghana
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Ghana U20 (Manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1992	Hearts of Oak	31	(9)
1992–1997	Anderlecht	92	(27)
1997–1999	Gaziantepspor	58	(16)
1999–2000	Fenerbahçe	22	(7)
2000–2002	Yimpaş Yozgatspor	55	(21)
2002–2004	Gaziantepspor	4	(3)
2004–2005	Halmstads	49	(11)
2005–2007	Al-Ettifaq	2	(1)
2007	Hoang Anh Gia Lai	2	(0)
Total		315	(95)
National team
1992–2001	Ghana	31	(5)
Teams managed
2012–2013	Ghana U20 (assistant)
2015–2016	Hearts of Oak (assistant)
2016	Hearts of Oak (caretaker)
2016	Ifeanyi Ubah (assistant)
2016–2017	Ifeanyi Ubah
2018–2019	Ghana U17 (assistant)
2019	Kings Palace FC (assistant)
2019–	Ghana U20
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Medal record
Men's association football
Representing Ghana
Olympic Games
	1992 Barcelona	Team competition

Club career

Preko is a member of the Hearts of Oak club from his hometown, Accra . He made his debut in this team in 1991 in the Ghanaian league , but he played there only for a season and in 1992 he became a player of RSC Anderlecht , where he joined the national team, Nii Lamptey and Isaac Asare . Preko made his debut in the Eerste Klasse in the 1992/1993 season. He played 5 matches then, and had a small part in Anderlecht winning the Belgian championship. He also played little in the 1993/1994 season and was only a reserve for the goal-scoring pair of forwards John Bosman - Luc Nilis , who were the main authors of another national championship. In the summer of 1994, Nilis left for PSV Eindhoven and Preko became a player in the first eleven. He scored 9 goals in the league and also played in the Champions League. At the end of the season, Anderlecht won their third consecutive championship. In 1995, Yaw's friend from his time at Hearts, Samuel Johnson, came to the Brussels club and both of them played in the capital club for two more seasons, but did not achieve much success.

In 1997, Preko moved to Turkey and joined Gaziantepspor . The team finished 15th, remaining in the Turkish Premier League, and after the season, Johnson joined Yaw. In the 1998/1999 season, both were among the best players of the team that finished the season in 7th place, and their performance did not go unnoticed by Fenerbahçe SK coach, Zdenek Zeman, who brought both players to Istanbul. Preko, although he played in the starting eleven, turned out to be less effective than his rivals, Elvir Bolić and Viorel Moldovan, so after the season he unexpectedly left for Yozgatspor. In 2001, he finished 7th with this club, and his team included his compatriots Kwame Ayew and Joachim Yaw Acheampong. In 2002, he returned to Gaziantepspor, with whom he took 4th place twice and played with Johnson again, but due to chronic injuries he played in only 12 matches.

In the winter of 2004, Preko went to Sweden and became a player of Halmstads BK. That season he became the national vice-champion and played in attack with Markus Rosenberg. In 2005, his partner was the Icelander Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson. In 2006, the Ghanaian left the club and joined the Saudi Al-Ittifaq from the city of Dammam, and in 2007 he was a player of the Vietnamese team Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, where he ended his career.

International career

Preko made his debut for the Ghana national team in 1992. It was then that he was called up to the Olympic team of the "Black Stars" for the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​where, alongside Kwame Ayew, Nii Lamptey, Samuel Kuffour and Mohammed Gargo, he was one of the stars of the team and contributed to Ghana winning the bronze medal. In the same year, he also played in the African Cup of Nations in Senegal and won the African runner-up title with Ghana. He played his last match for the national team in 2001. He played in a total of 25 matches and scored 5 goals.

Statistics

Club career statistics

Club statistics			League
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals
Belgium			League
1992–93	Anderlecht	First Division	5	0
1993–94			11	1
1994–95			28	9
1995–96			20	11
1996–97			28	6
Turkey			League
1997–98	Gaziantepspor	First League	33	9
1998–99			25	7
1999–00	Fenerbahçe	First League	22	7
2000–01	Yimpaş Yozgatspor	First League	28	13
2001–02		Süper Lig	27	8
2002–03	Gaziantepspor	Süper Lig	4	1
2003–04			8	0
Sweden			League
2004	Halmstad	Allsvenskan	26	7
2005			23	4
Country	Belgium		92	27
	Turkey		147	45
	Sweden		49	11
Total			288	83

International career statistics

Ghana national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1992	7	0
1993	1	0
1994	2	3
1995	3	0
1996	3	0
1997	3	0
1998	1	0
1999	3	1
2000	5	1
2001	3	0
Total	31	5