Kickoff (Cape Town)
18 November 2008
Hull City's George Boateng says he regrets choosing Holland ahead of Ghana in international football.
The Tigers midfield hard man represented Holland at international level ahead of the country of his birth but says with hindsight he would have made a different decision.
Boateng moved to Holland as a 9-year old to study and become a pilot but soon found himself playing football before switching nationality to boost his chances of getting into the Feyenoord first team.
"At 15, I had to change my nationality from Ghanaian to Dutch, because at the time there were only three non EU (European Union) residents allowed to play in the first-team," Boateng told AFP.
"I had to change it to give me a better chance of playing at Feyenoord.
"As soon as I changed I played for the Holland Under-16s, then I played for the Under-21s at 19-years-old and captained them for three years. My life was actually in Holland, I never kicked a ball in Ghana, only street football.
"I can't play for Ghana now. Sometimes I wish it would have been different, because I didn't play that many games for the full Dutch national team, only seven or eight. If I had played 30 games or more for Holland then it would not bother me as much.
"Sometimes I wish that I had played with Appiah and Essien for Ghana, but that is life and you have to get past that."
The midfielder says he is now happily Ghana's number one fan.
"I enjoyed watching them in the World Cup and when I saw Essien recently, we talked about how good it would have been for me to play with them for Ghana. But sadly, I will never get that opportunity to do so now.
"Instead, I have to be happy with being Ghana's biggest fan."
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