BBC SPORT | AFRICA | Yeboah uncertain over future

Veteran Ghanaian striker Anthony Yeboah has said he may quit playing next season.

The 35-year-old, who plays for Hamburg SV, said his decision would depend on how he performs next season.

"I don't want to spoil my name. I want to leave the scene when I am still playing well," said Yeboah, who has scored around 130 league goals at nearly one every two games.

"At the moment I am not playing that well but I would decide to stop if things don't go well again next season," he said.

I don't want to spoil my name. I want to leave the scene when I am playing well

Anthony Yeboah

Yeboah, who was twice Bundesliga top scorer, also ruled out a possible move to Bayer Leverkusen and a re-union with Klaus Topm�ller, who was coach of Eintracht Frankfurt when Yeboah was at his peak.

The striker said: "I won't go to Leverkusen. My performance last season was not good because of injuries and I am not sure if a club as ambitious as Leverkusen would need me that much."

Black Stars can cope

The former Leeds United striker, who last played for Ghana in 1997 in a World Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone in Freetown, was also honest about his future with the Black Stars.

"What the Stars need now is a player in good shape," he said. "I won't believe in the hype and proclaim myself worthy of a place in the team merely because some fans want me back. I am not playing well and that is the bottom line.

anthony yeboah
Yeboah has struggled with injuries at Hamburg
"I hope to pick up and I believe I can, but even then it would be wrong to push me into the Black Stars.

"I sincerely believe that we need to encourage the young ones. They are very talented and capable of taking Ghanaian football back to the top.

"I did my part but the Black Stars would need my performance, not my name."

Court battle

It wasn't only Yeboah's performance that suffered last season. He had a running battle in the German courts over tax-evasion charges dating from when he was at Eintracht Frankfurt.

The court fined him $170,000 but he still argues that he did nothing wrong and that Frankfurt were responsible for the financial side.

On Abedi Pel�'s bid to become chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Yeboah said he is prepared to see him have a chance.

"I don't know what ideas he would bring on board. He just stopped playing football but - who knows - he could be our saviour," Yeboah said.

Yeboah was perceived as a rival of Abedi in the Black Stars and the two had at least one row over who should wear the captain's armband when Ghana played Germany in a friendly in 1994.

That notwithstanding, Yeboah says he would support Abedi's bid if he approaches him. "He is my friend and I would support him. Maybe he has solid ideas, and so why not encourage him."


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