Kofi Nimeley

{{Infobox football biography

| name= Kofi Nimeley

| fullname = Kofi Ntiamoah Nimeley

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1992|12|11}}

| birth_place = Accra, Ghana

| height = 1.76 m

| currentclub = SC Binningen

| clubnumber = 3

| position = Right back / Centre-back
Defensive midfielder

| youthyears1 = 2001–2004

| youthclubs1 = Muttenz

| youthyears2 = 2004–2010

| youthclubs2 = Basel

| years1 = 2010–2013

| clubs1 = Basel U-21

| caps1 = 76

| goals1 = 2

| years2 = 2013–2015

| clubs2 = Locarno

| caps2 = 55

| goals2 = 0

| years3 = 2015–2016

| clubs3 = Black Stars Basel

| caps3 =

| goals3 =

| nationalyears1 = 2006–2007

| nationalteam1 = Switzerland U-15

| nationalcaps1 = 4

| nationalgoals1 = 1

| nationalyears2 = 2007–2008

| nationalteam2 = Switzerland U-16

| nationalcaps2 = 1

| nationalgoals2 = 0

| nationalyears3 = 2008–2009

| nationalteam3 = Switzerland U-17

| nationalcaps3 = 14

| nationalgoals3 = 2

| nationalyears4 = 2010–2011

| nationalteam4 = Switzerland U-19

| nationalcaps4 = 8

| nationalgoals4 = 0

| nationalyears5 = 2012

| nationalteam5 = Switzerland U-20

| nationalcaps5 = 1

| nationalgoals5 = 0

| manageryears1 =

| managerclubs1 =

| pcupdate =

| ntupdate =

}}

Kofi Ntiamoah Nimeley (born 11 December 1992) is a Swiss-Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as defender. He was part of the Swiss U-17 team that won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. After his retirement from his football career he became real estate agent.

Football career

=Club=

Nimeley initially started his youth football with local amateur club SV Muttenz, but soon moved to FC Basel's youth department.{{cite news| first = George-Patrick | last = Bediaku |url=http://www.allsports.com.gh/2013/03/19/one-on-one-kofi-ntiamoah-nimeley/ |title=One-on-One with Kofi Ntiamoah Nimeley Part I |work=AllSports Ghana |publisher=allsports.com.gh |date=19 March 2013 |accessdate=12 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331064842/http://www.allsports.com.gh/2013/03/19/one-on-one-kofi-ntiamoah-nimeley/ |archivedate=31 March 2013 }} As Basel academy player, he rose regularly through the ranks. In the 2007–08 season he was member of the U-16 team that won the Swiss championship at that level, remaining undefeated throughout the entire season. In fact the team's last defeat had been in the 2004–05 season.{{cite web | last = FC Basel 1893 | year = 2008 | url = http://www.fcb.ch/news/show/byItemID/de-de/-/20378/27/7/7 | title = Zwei weitere Nachwuchstitel für den FCB | publisher = FC Basel 1893 | accessdate = 2008-06-15 | language = de-ch | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140106040536/http://www.fcb.ch/news/show/byItemID/de-de/-/20378/27/7/7 | archive-date = 6 January 2014 | url-status = dead }} Nimeley won the U-18 championship twice and broke into their U-21 team towards the end of the 2009–10 season. He made his debut for Basel U-21 on 21 April 2010 in a 4–1 home win against SV Höngg, coming on as a late substitute. He scored his first goal for the club on 12 March 2011 in a match against Grasshopper Club U-21 that ended in a 1–1 draw. He played with the team for three seasons. During this time he suffered an injury and perhaps this was also the reason that he was unable to break into the Basel first-team.{{cite news| first = George-Patrick | last = Bediaku |url=http://www.allsports.com.gh/2013/03/26/one-on-one-with-kofi-ntiamoah-nimeley-part-ii/ |title=One-on-One with Kofi Ntiamoah Nimeley Part II |work=AllSports Ghana |publisher=allsports.com.gh |date=26 March 2013 |accessdate=12 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331004541/http://www.allsports.com.gh/2013/03/26/one-on-one-with-kofi-ntiamoah-nimeley-part-ii/ |archivedate=31 March 2013 }}

Therefore Nimeley decided to move on. He transferred to FC Locarno, who at that time played in the Swiss Challenge League, in July 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.fussball.ch/U17+Weltmeister+Nimeley+zu+Locarno/591177/detail.htm |title=U17-Weltmeister Nimeley zu Locarno |work=fussball.ch Transfers |publisher=fussball.ch |date=27 June 2013 |accessdate=26 August 2014 |language=de}} He made his debut for Locarno on 14 July 2014 in a 1–0 home win against FC Biel-Bienne. But after two mixed years in Ticino, he moved back to Basel, to the Black Stars for one season. Too many injuries. Too much wrong advice. Too many wrong decisions.{{cite web | first = Michael | last = Wegmann | author-link = | date = 31 December 2018 | url = https://www.blick.ch/sport/fussball/2-teil-der-blick-serie-vergessene-talente-vor-9-jahren-weltmeister-jetzt-verkauft-er-haeuser-id15093316.html | title = Vor 9 Jahren Weltmeister – jetzt verkauft er Häuser | work = | trans-title = World champion 9 years ago – now he sells houses | publisher = Blick.ch | language = de-ch | access-date = 2023-11-16}}

=International=

Nimeley was a Swiss youth international, having competed from under-15 to under-20 level. He debuted for Swiss U-15 on 20 April 2007 and scored the team's only goal as they were beaten 4–1 by Germany U-15. Later, under head coach Dany Ryser, Nimeley debuted for the Swiss U-17 team on 26 March 2009, as the team played a 1–1 draw with Greece U-17. In May 2009, he then led the team as captain on two occasions, in the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, first in the 3–1 win against Italy U-17 and then again in the 1–1 draw with Spain U-17, to advance from the group stage to the semi-finals. But here the Swiss were beaten by Netherlands U-21.{{cite web | first = | last = uefa.com | author-link = | year = 2009 | url = https://archive.today/20130105214456/http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/under17/fixturesresults/round=15208/match=2001171/index.html | title = Switzerland 1-2 Netherlands | work = | trans-title = | publisher = uefa.com | language = en | access-date = 2023-11-16}}

In 2009, Nimeley was part of the Swiss under-17 team that won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup beating the host nation Nigeria 1–0 in the final.{{cite web | first = Céline | last = Feller | author-link = | date = 15 November 2019 | url = https://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/sport/interview-mit-granit-xhaka-und-kofi-nimeley-gemeinsam-u17-weltmeister-doch-ihr-leben-verlief-ganz-anders-ld.1168509 | title = Interview mit Granit Xhaka und Kofi Nimeley: Gemeinsam U17-Weltmeister – doch ihr Leben verlief ganz anders | format = | work = | trans-title = Interview with Granit Xhaka and Kofi Nimeley: U17 world champions together – but their lives continued completely differently | publisher = Aargauer Zeitung | language = de-ch | access-date = 2023-11-16}} He played in five of the seven matches at the tournament and had been an integral part of the team in helping them to qualify.{{cite news |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=311550/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028065236/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=311550/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 28, 2009 |title=Kofi Nimeley |work=FIFA Player Statistics |publisher=FIFA.com |accessdate=12 April 2013 }}

Despite featuring for Switzerland at various youth levels, Nimeley had also expressed an interest in representing Ghana at senior level.

Private life

Nimeley was born in Accra, Ghana. He is the only son of his two sport interested parents. They first lived in Bubuashie, then moved to nearby Dome and the family moved to Switzerland in 1998. Young Nimeley first learnt the German language in a special school, then spent five years in the local primary school, before joining a sports school for one-and-a-half years and then he moved to an international school.

Following his professional football, he worked in a call center because he could no longer make a living from football in the 1. Liga. He advanced to become the team leader of this call center and is head of the customer relationship management in a large real estate company. Nimeley is co-owner of Training 4U GmbH.

Honours and titles

FIFA U-17 World Cup winner in 2009
Twice Swiss champion at U-16 level
Twice Swiss Cup winner at U-16 level
Twice Swiss champion at U-18 level

Notes

=References=

=Sources=

{{cite book |title=FC Basel 1893. Die ersten 125 Jahre |author=Josef Zindel |publisher=Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag |location=Basel |date=2018 |isbn=978-3-7245-2305-5 |language=de}}