Prince Buaben
 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Prince Christian Buaben Abankwah | ||
| Date of birth | 23 April 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Akosombo, Ghana | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Central Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
|
Current team
|
Heart of Midlothian | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2002–2004 | A.V.V. Zeeburgia | ||
| 2004–2007 | Ajax | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2007–2011 | Dundee United | 115 | (8) |
| 2011–2013 | Watford | 31 | (1) |
| 2013–2014 | Carlisle United | 12 | (1) |
| 2014 | → Partick Thistle (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2014– | Heart of Midlothian | 78 | (7) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008 | Ghana | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 May 2017 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 00:55, 9 November 2015 (UTC) |
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Prince Christian Buaben Abankwah (born 23 April 1988), known as Prince Buaben, is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.
Buaben grew up in the Netherlands and was a youth player at AFC Ajax, but was forced to leave the club due to residency issues. He joined Dundee United in 2007 and won the Scottish Cup with them in 2010. He played in England from 2011, with Watford and later Carlisle United. He returned to Scotland in 2014, playing for Partick Thistle on loan prior to joining Hearts.
As of 2015[update], Buaben has made one appearance for the Ghana national team.
Buaben was born in Akosombo, Ghana, but his mother took his family to the Netherlands when he was nine, as she thought that they would have a better life there. In the Netherlands where he lived for nine years, his big break came when he was playing for local side AVV Zeeburgia against Ajax in a friendly, which they lost 9–1, with Buaben notching his side's solitary strike. "After the game, Danny Blind told my uncle that they had been impressed with me, but nothing happened for a while. Eventually, Ajax called me and I went there for a two-week trial when I was 15."
A player who grew up in the famous Ajax Amsterdam youth system mostly as a striker, the 19-year-old did enough to impress Dundee United manager Craig Levein. He did not have the necessary residential status in the Netherlands to obtain the required work visa when a full-time contract was offered to him by the Dutch giants. "In Holland, you cannot play professional football without a resident's permit, and I was not due to get mine until the following year. But, because I did not have a permit, I could not play professionally, and the club had no choice but to let me go," he recalls. He returned to his native Ghana and due to his family's UK status obtained a valid visa, which led to a recommendation to Dundee United manager Craig Levein.
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