Haminu Dramani

Football player infobox
playername= Hamidu Dramani
fullname = Haminu Dramani
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1986|4|1
cityofbirth =
countryofbirth = Ghana
height = height|ft=5|in=8
currentclub = Stoke City F.C.
clubnumber =
position = Right Wing Forward,
Forward,
Attacking/Right Midfielder,
Right Back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-
clubs = Heart of Lions Red Star Belgrade Gençlerbirliği Lokomotiv Moscow
caps(goals) = ? (?) 4 (1) 31 (2) 3 (0)
nationalyears = 2005-
nationalteam = Ghana
nationalcaps(goals) = 027 0(3)
pcupdate = 1 May 2008
ntupdate = 28 June 2008

Haminu Dramani (born 1 April 1986 in Ghana) is a Ghanaian football midfielder who plays for Lokomotiv Moscow.

Football career

He signed a four years contract with Russian Cup winners Lokomotiv Moscow on 19 June, 2007, for a transfer fees of €3million [cite news | date=2007-06-19 |url=http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=552834.html | title=Draman's the man for Lokomotiv | publisher=UEFA | accessdate=2007-06-19] . He will join Lokomotiv when the Russian transfer window opens on 1 August 2007. Having started his career in Ghana with Heart of Lions FC, Dramani joined FK Crvena Zvezda for the 2005/06 campaign before scoring twice in 31 league appearances for Gençlerbirliği as they finished sixth in the Turkish Süper Lig last season. He is expected to replace Russian international Marat Izmailov, who is on loan to Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon for a year.

Meanwhile, the decision to transfer Draman has left cracks within the Turkish side with coach Ersun Yanal quitting after just over a week in charge [cite news | date=2007-06-09 |url=http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=549284.html | title=Gençlerbirliği hit by Yanal U-turn | publisher=UEFA | accessdate=2007-06-09] . Yanal, who had previously been coach of Genclerbirligi before leaving to become the Turkish National Team Coach, signed a three-year contract with the club on 1 June 2007. The 46-year-old Coach has resigned after disagreeing with the club's decision to sell the Ghana midfielder.

"The chairman's promises seem to have changed from the way they were before the agreement we made" Yanal said. "We would like to be a strong team but we sold Dramani. The club want to try some players on trial in the meantime but this is not the way that I work." [cite news | date=2007-06-19 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/6768229.stm | title=Dramani moves to Russia | publisher=BBC | accessdate=2007-06-19] . Gençlerbirliği Chairman Cavcav, who has been in charge of the Club for 30 years, responded by saying: "We met with the coach before and then I told him that I have to sell Draman to Locomotiv Moskva because all of the negotiations were over and I promised to sell him [cite news | date=2007-06-11 |url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=75496 | title=Coach departure induces fan protest at Gençlerbirliği | publisher=Turkish Daily News | accessdate=2007-06-11] .

International career

Draman was 19, when he had his debut International for Ghana in a friendly against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on 14 November 2005. He is a member of the national team, and was called up to the 2006 World Cup. He scored his first goal of the tournament against the U.S. on 22 June 2006.

He took a starring role in Ghana's International friendly against former World Champions Brazil on 27 March 2007 where the Ghanaians lost 1-0, terrorising the Samba Boys right back Ilsinho, before being dismissed late in the game for a second bookable offence on Ilsinho's replacement Daniel Alves.

Note on name

There was some confusion during the 2006 FIFA World Cup as Dramani's surname was misspelled DRAMAN on the back of his shirt and, as a result, on FIFA documents. The Ghanaian FA confirm his name is Dramani.

References

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/player/235367_DRAMAN_Haminu.html Fifa 2006 World Cup Profile]
* [http://www.ghanafa.org/ Ghana Football Association] - official website
* [http://discussions.ghanaweb.com/viewforum.php?f=2/ Ghanaweb Football Forum] - Official Fan Forum