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George Blay

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George Blay
Personal information
Date of birth (1980-08-07) 7 August 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth Elmina, Ghana
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Right-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1997 Sekondi Hasaacas
1997–2002 Standard Liège 92 (3)
2002–2003 Mechelen 11 (0)
2003–2006 La Louviére 78 (0)
2006–2009 Dinamo București 66 (0)
2010 Internațional Curtea de Argeș 3 (0)
2010–2011 Unirea Urziceni 11 (0)
2011–2012 Royal Antwerp 19 (0)
Total 280 (3)
International career
1999 Ghana U20 5 (0)
2000–2002 Ghana 7 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

George Blay (born 7 August 1980) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a right-back.[1]

Club career

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Blay was born on 7 August 1980 in Elmina, Ghana and started to play football at Sekondi Hasaacas.[1][2] He went to play in Belgium for Standard Liège, making his Belgian First Division debut under coach Aad de Mos on 31 August 1997 in a 3–0 away victory against Germinal Ekeren.[1][3][4] He scored his first league goal on 29 August 1998 when he closed the score in a 3–0 home win over Eendracht Aalst.[1][2][5] He spent a total of five seasons at Standard, reaching two Belgian Cup finals under the guidance of coach Tomislav Ivić, however both of them were lost.[1][2][3] Blay afterwards went for one season at Mechelen and in 2003 he went to play for three seasons at La Louviére.[1][2][3][6] On 30 April 2006, Blay made his last Belgian First Division appearance in La Louviére's 2–2 home draw against Charleroi, having a total of 180 matches with three goals netted in the competition.[1][2]

In 2006, Blay was transferred in Romania at Dinamo București, being recommended by his former Standard teammate, Liviu Ciobotariu, making his Liga I debut on 30 July 2006 in a 2–1 away victory against Național București, being used in his first season spent at the club by coach Mircea Rednic in 31 out of 34 rounds as the club won the title.[2][3][7] He also appeared in 12 matches as the club reached the sixteenths-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica.[2][3][7][8] In the following season The Red Dogs had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, Blay playing in both legs of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, which however was lost with 4–2 on aggregate.[2][9] Afterwards he went to play for a short while at Internațional Curtea de Argeș, then he moved to Unirea Urziceni where on 4 May 2011 he made his last Liga I appearance in a 2–1 home win against Victoria Brănești, having a total of 80 games in the competition.[1][2][10]

In 2011 he returned to Belgium and signed with Royal Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division who bought him to replace Bart Van Zundert, retiring at the end of the 2011–12 season.[2][3][7][11] Blay has a total of 25 games in which he scored one goal in European competitions (including three appearances in the Intertoto Cup).[1][2]

International career

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Blay played for Ghana's under-20 national team, participating at the 1999 World Youth Championship where he made five appearances, helping the team reach the quarter-finals where they lost at the penalty kicks to Spain, who eventually won the competition.[12]

He played seven games and scored once for Ghana, making his debut under coach Giuseppe Dossena on 8 April 2000 in a 1–0 away victory against Tanzania at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers first round.[13][14] His following game was a 5–0 home win over Sierra Leone at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers second round and in his third game played he scored his only goal for the national team in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Algeria.[13] He was selected by coach Fred Osam-Duodu to be part of Ghana's squad from the 2002 African Cup of Nations, playing in all three games from the group stage, as the team qualified to the quarter-finals where he did not play in the 1–0 loss to Nigeria.[13][15] On 17 May 2002, Blay made his last appearance for The Black Stars in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 loss to Slovenia.[13]

International goals

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Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each George Blay goal.[16]
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 5 December 2001 Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria  Algeria 1–0 1–1 Friendly

Honours

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Standard Liège

Dinamo București

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i George Blay at WorldFootball.net
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m George Blay at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  3. ^ a b c d e f "George Blay is back !" (in Dutch). Walfoot.be. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ "George Blay. Pro League 1997/1998". WorldFootball. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
    "KFC Germinal Ekeren vs. Standard Liège 0–3". WorldFootball. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  5. ^ "George Blay. Pro League 1998/1999". WorldFootball. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
    "Standard Liège - K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst 3:0". WorldFootball. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  6. ^ "Blay lands at Louviéroise". UEFA. 12 June 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Dinamo prin ochii lui George Blay: cum îl descrie pe Mircea Rednic, ce a însemnat episodul Lazio și caracterizările lui Ștefan Radu sau Cosmin Moți. "Spune-mi, te rog, Dinamo chiar a retrogradat?"" [Dinamo through the eyes of George Blay: how he describes Mircea Rednic, what the Lazio episode meant and the characterizations of Ștefan Radu or Cosmin Moți. "Tell me, please, Dinamo really relegated?"] (in Romanian). Playsport.ro. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Dinamo - Benfica 1-2" (in Romanian). Hotnews.ro. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
    "Dinamo – Benfica 1-2 (Cupa UEFA, 22 februarie 2007 – turul 3)" [Dinamo – Benfica 1-2 (UEFA Cup, February 22, 2007 – round 3)] (in Romanian). Tikitaka.ro. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  9. ^ ""Doar" un egal: Lazio 1 - 1 Dinamo!" ["Just" a draw: Lazio 1 - 1 Dinamo!] (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
    "Liga Campionilor - Lazio - Dinamo 1 -1 - Ingerul cu mănuşi" [Champions League - Lazio - Dinamo 1 -1 - The angel with gloves] (in Romanian). Jurnalul.ro. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
    "Rapusi in 20 de minute" [Destroyed in 20 minutes] (in Romanian). Ziaruldeiasi.ro. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
    "Dinamo: Visul frumos s-a terminat" [Dinamo: The beautiful dream is over] (in Romanian). Evz.ro. 29 August 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
    "Dezastru pentru echipa lui Rednic: Dinamo 1 - 3 Lazio" [Disaster for Rednic's team: Dinamo 1 - 3 Lazio] (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Unirea Urziceni – Victoria Brăneşti, scor 2-1, în Liga I" [Unirea Urziceni – Victoria Brăneşti, score 2-1, in Liga I] (in Romanian). Mediafax.ro. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  11. ^ "Fostul dinamovist George Blay s-a transferat la Antwerp" [The former Dinamo player George Blay signed with Antwerp] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  12. ^ "George Blay - U20 World Cup 1999 Nigeria". WorldFootball. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
    "U20 World Cup 1999 Nigeria - Final". WorldFootball. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  13. ^ a b c d "George Blay". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann.
  14. ^ "Tanzania 0-1 Ghana". National-football-teams.com. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Nigeria 1-0 Ghana". National-football-teams.com. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Algeria v Ghana, 05 December 2001". 11v11. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Romanian Supercup – Season 2007". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
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