Former Black Stars defender John Paintsil has disclosed that former Ghana Premier League side Berekum Arsenal was formed because of his arrival in Berekum as a young player.
Paintsil, 36, revealed how the migration of his father from Koforidua in the Eastern Region to Berekum because of work played a part in him ending up playing for an area team that would eventually become Berekum Arsenal.
According to the former Fulham right back, his father who was a Police Office was transferred to Berekum, when he was still a young boy attending New Juaben Commercial College, but had to visit his father on vacations.
And on one of such visits he ended up playing with a group of boys in Berekum and then the formation of Berekum Arsenal.
“It was because of me that Berekum Arsenal was formed,” he said on Kwese TV’s Home Run Show. “My dad was a Police Officer and was transferred from Koforidua to Berekum, so one day he went out with me in Berekum and I saw a group of guys playing and I told him if I can play and he said yes. So I was so good and one of the guys was like let's form a team with the boy from Koftown."
"The team belonged to a guy whose brother was in England and was an Arsenal fan. So he told his brother about me and wanted to form a team around me and his brother was like, okay I can get you Arsenal jerseys and ball, and that's how it all started."
The Gunners now plays in the second-tier of Ghana Football.