This year, former Black Stars player Derek Boateng and his wife, Aisha Boateng, will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary.
The couple is one of the very few celebrity pairs who have kept their affairs from the public eye until 2020, when they marked their 18th year of marriage.
Over the two decades of being together, the couple has raised three children: two boys and a girl.
Before retiring from his career, Derek Boateng and his wife managed to establish a luxurious five-star hotel in Ghana’s capital, Accra, called the Mendiata Hotel, located near Golf Park, Achimota.
Despite their successful marriage and beautiful family, the story behind how Derek Boateng met his wife remained a mystery until recently, when GhanaWeb uncovered it.
Derek Boateng began his football career with former Ghana Premier League side Liberty Professionals and became a close ally of the club owner, the late Alhaji Sly Tetteh.
Tetteh took Derek in like a son, and his partner, Mr. Ansong, offered to stay with the ex-player.
However, as fate would have it, the former Black Stars player took an interest in a young lady, Aisha, who was residing with Sly Tetteh.
In an interview cited by GhanaWeb, Derek Boateng recalled how he met his wife while Sly Tetteh was working hard to find him a club abroad.
“Meeting my wife is a very funny situation. Everyone knows Sly Tetteh is my agent and manager. When I started playing for Liberty Professionals, he was the one taking care of me and Mr. Ansong as well.
"Sly Tetteh is the one who took me to Europe and found me a club, but while he was looking for a club for me, I was in his house also looking for a player to sign—I mean my wife,” Derek Boateng said with a smirk.
“I had to bring the money back to the family because he had done everything for me.”
According to the former Fulham player, it all started as a friendship but later became serious and official.
“I spoke to Mr. Ansong, who was taking care of me, and asked him to go ahead. Sly Tetteh asked if I was ready to marry her, and I said YES because I am not here to joke.”
“Now we are married, have three kids, and are thankful to God.”