Michael Essien Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (sometimes written in French: Michaël Essien) (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian professional footballer. He has also been capped for the Ghana national team more than 50 times. Essien started his career playing for Liberty Professionals in Ghana. In 2000, he moved to France to join Bastia, where he would spend three seasons and appear in over 60 matches before joining Ligue 1 title holders Lyon in 2003. At Lyon, Essien won back-to-back league titles in 2003–04 and 2004–05 and also played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. During his five-year
Michael Essien match of the campaign, Essien scored his first league goal for the club in a 3–1 victory over Monaco. He featured regularly for the rest of the campaign, making 33 more league appearances and scoring two more goals, against Bordeaux and Rennes respectively. On 23 May 2004, Lyon sealed their third consecutive league title by defeating Lille 3–0 at the Stade Gerland. Essien appeared as a substitute in the match. In the UEFA Champions League, Essien appeared in eight of the ten matches Lyon contested and the club was ultimately eliminated by eventual champions Porto. In his final season at