Former Asante Kotoko player Kofi Ntow Gyan remains the only Ghanaian player to have played for Ghana and Ivory Coast.
He played for the Elephants of Ivory Coast in the late 1980s before playing for the Black Stars in the early 1990s.
Often, players of dual nationalities find themselves in such situations. However, Gyan was neither born in Ivory Coast nor has any roots in the neighbouring country.
In an interview with Dan Kwaku Yeboah, he stated that his journey to becoming an Ivorian began when he secured a transfer from Real Tamale United to Sabé Sports de Bouna.
He revealed that he underwent an identity change and assumed the French name Lubadey Diabagate before the transfer could materialize.
"The club chairman facilitated the identity change for me. That allowed me to play in the league, and I later received a national team call-up," he said.
Ntow Gyan confirmed that he possesses dual nationality and has played for both Ghana and Ivory Coast.
According to him, he participated in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and friendly games for the Ivorian national team.
Regarding his club career, he noted that he played for Sabé Sports and Stade Abidjan.
While narrating how he ended up playing for the Black Stars, he revealed that a Ghanaian exposed his true identity to the Ivorian football federation, forcing him to fly back to Ghana.
"I was performing very well for Stade Abidjan and had earned a call-up to join the Ivorian national team, but it was around that time that my own people from Ghana informed the authorities that I was not a full Ivorian and that I have Ghanaian heritage, fully aware that I could go to prison for that, even without a trial.
"That is why I have been saying that if I were God, I would have wiped out Ghanaians from the face of the earth and created new ones because we are not good people; we are evil people. I could have gone to jail because I had both Ghanaian and Ivorian passports. I was summoned to the Ivorian FA Secretariat to meet with the Presidents alongside my club President, and I told them the truth: my father was Ivorian, but my mother was from Ghana.
"They informed me that I couldn't play for the national team because I'm not a full-blooded Ivorian. That meant that my club President, who signed my documents, would be sent to jail for 'deceiving' the state, and he had to help me escape so we both could avoid going to prison."
Upon his return, he was signed by BA United and later secured a move to Asante Kotoko, which subsequently led to a Black Stars call-up.
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