Jerome Opoku: Eyes on the Prize Ahead of Maiden World Cup | OneFootball

Başakşehir center back and Ghana international Jerome Opoku sits down with us to discuss his adjustment to Turkish football, what it means to represent his national team, and his thoughts on his EA FC 26 card. 

It’s officially 2026, and that can only mean one thing: we are just six months away from the FIFA World Cup. Out of the thousands of footballers who will compete in the world’s biggest sporting event in North America, there are quite a few who will be playing in their very first World Cup. One of them is Ghana’s Jerome Osei Opoku.

Born in Lambeth, England, Opoku spent his childhood in South London, and, similarly to other members of the Ghanaian-English diaspora like Antoine Semenyo and Tariq Lamptey, he quickly became enamored with football. Opoku developed in the Mitcham Little League before eventually making the move to Fulham in 2009, where would commute 40 minutes to the Fulham Kicks Soccer School in Brixton and eventually join the Fulham Development Center.

Opoku rose through the ranks at Fulham and captained Fulham’s U-16s to victory in the 2014 Premier League International Cup, beating a star-studded Chelsea side in the final and impressing across multiple positions. Originally a winger who modeled himself after Gareth Bale, Opoku was dropped to the left back position by U-15 coach Mark Pembridge before hitting a sudden growth spurt, prompting a move to central defense. A decade later, and he’s played in the middle ever since.

In 2017, a 17-year-old Opoku decided to call it quits on his academic pursuits and completely focus on becoming a professional footballer, a decision that was quickly met with adversity. Just a few weeks after putting his studies in the rearview mirror, Opoku tore his ACL. He returned a year later and got back to his best with Fulham’s U-23s before leaving his hometown of London and making the move to Lancashire in 2019.

Opoku was forced to cut his teeth in the English third tier with Accrington Stanley and Plymouth Argyle, coming to grips with the senior level and displaying an impressive maturity both on and off the ball. He then enjoyed a promising loan spell with Danish outfit Velje Boldklub, before deciding to cut ties with Fulham and join Portuguese side Arouca on a free transfer in 2022.

“Fulham was a massive part of my development,” said Opoku in an exclusive Urban Pitch interview. “It’s got a great academy setup that is producing a lot of talented young players. The target was always to break into the first team, and when I was trying to do that, I was going out on a couple of loan spells in League One.

“It was when I moved to Denmark that I knew that wasn’t going to happen; that was kind of like a breakaway loan, when I knew it’s going to be my own journey after a decade at Fulham. When I realized I wasn’t gonna break into the team and achieve that target, it just made me man up and understand, ‘Okay, I’m gonna have to find my own way from here.'”

Opoku emerged as one of the best center backs in Liga Portugal, forming a stalwart pairing alongside João Basso and leading Arouca to a fifth-place finish and European qualification. But rather than stick around in Iberia, Opoku forced through a loan move to Süper Lig side İstanbul Başakşehir, which was made permanent the following summer for €1.5 million.

He enjoyed a seamless transition to Turkish football, helping the Owls finish fourth and reach the Turkish Cup quarterfinals, before racking up three goals and four assists in 33 league appearances to lead Başakşehir to a fifth-place finish. He’s continued that progression this season, remaining one of the first names on the team sheet under new manager Nuri Şahin and helping them shake off a wearisome start to the campaign and ascend to seventh in the table, with three wins from their last five.

“Başakşehir have a saying that goes, ‘Europe’s in our DNA,'” Opoku said. “We see ourselves qualifying for Europe each season, that’s the expectation from the club. You do feel that pressure when you’re underperforming, which pushes the players and the club to get the wins; there’s no mediocrity here. We need to qualify for Europe, and I strongly believe we will do that again for a third successive time. It’s just about going on that run, and once it does happen the winds will flow…I 100% believe that.”

Opoku’s move to Türkiye hasn’t just proven fruitful for his club career, but also his international career. One month after making the move to Istanbul, Opoku was called up to the Ghana national team for the first time, debuting in a 4-0 loss to the United States in Nashville. Opoku would miss out on the next two windows before returning to the fold in March 2024, but he would have to wait another year before being included in another Ghana squad.

Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images

He made his competitive debut against Chad in 2026 World Cup qualifying before starting in another win against Madagscar. He missed the June friendlies but returned for Ghana’s next round of World Cup qualifiers in September 2025.

Opoku may not be competing in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco after Ghana’s disastrous qualifying campaign that has them out of the tournament for the first time in 20 years, but he is on track to play in his first-ever international tournament in just a few months.

With an increasingly ubiquitous presence for the Black Stars’ backline, all signs point to him having a big role this summer in North America.

Urban Pitch caught up with Opoku for a Q&A chat.

As someone who has never lived in Ghana, what was it like to represent the country of your parents and be able to reconnect with your heritage by playing for the Black Stars?

I think that was always a dream for me, and then once that opportunity did come, I could see how much it meant to not only me, but my family. Once I was part of that group, it’s something that was life-changing in a way for me. Everyone dreams to be a national team player, and to connect back with my roots and be able to go Ghana two to three times a year is amazing. The food, the culture, the people, and the love they show is second to none, so I’m really grateful.

After the last game in Accra versus Comoros, seeing the fans and the emotions after we qualified for the World Cup, it was just next level. It was a feeling that I can’t describe. To be more readily included with Ghana, I’m just grateful to God, and I just want to stay grounded, keep working, remain part of this setup for as long as I can. Whenever I’m called, I just want to perform to the best of my ability for the nation.

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You played against a lot of tough opponents in Portugal, but who was the hardest team to face?

I remember my first game was at Benfica, and we got smacked 5-0…that team was amazing with the likes of Gonçalo Ramos, Rafa Silva, and Enzo Fernández…there were some ballers on that pitch.

There are a lot of things that have changed since we first chatted when you were an Arouca player, perhaps the biggest being that you’re now a father of two sons. What has that been like?

It’s given me more patience, a bit of understanding, and it’s definitely calmed me down. I was a bit more hot-headed before my kids came along. Cruz just turned 3 years old in November, whilst Rome is about to be 9 months old. It’s given my life a lot more meaning than just football, you’ve got your missus and your own family.

I want to be a role model to both. Cruz is at basically every game of mine, and Rome recently came to a game of mine as well. Just being a great person, and also a great footballer, it’s definitely a big thing for me to guide them.

Could you see yourselves adding a third child to the mix?

That’s a question for the missus, to be honest. Me, I’m ready to go, I love my kids, I love numbers, but that’s up to her, man.

I don’t know if you’ve seen your FC 26 player card, but what would you expect it to be?

I don’t know what my FC card is, but I know my pace will be low. But the thing is, for a center back, I’m actually fast, but if you don’t know, you don’t know. My pace definitely needs to be up there with a couple attackers, but I’ll say my strengths are definitely ball progression, whilst I’m also comfortable defensively in 1v1 duels.

In terms of weaknesses, I need to improve my aerial threat. I’m fine with aerial duels in a defensive sense, but I need to be more efficient attacking them. I think I can get a lot more goals with my head at my height at six-foot-four, so that’s something I keep on working on. I’m on myself a lot to do better in that area of my game.

You’ve got a 72 overall, 59 pace, 43 shot, 54 pass, 59 dribble, 73 defending, and 80 physicality. Are you satisfied with that?

I think EA Sports just looked at me and just said, ‘Yeah, big lad, he’s gonna be a bit slow.’ I think they’ve just done that, but hopefully once my name gets out there a bit more, then some of my ratings on the card will go up in the places it needs to.

What has it been like starting a new life for yourself in Türkiye?

I was kind of an underdog coming from Arouca. It’s not a big club, and the big Turkish teams normally sign players from massive clubs, so I had a point to prove. After my first year, I think I definitely did that, and now I’ve just been continuing it and taking it day by day.

In terms of Turkish culture, too, even off the pitch, the food is really nice. I love Turkish breakfast; that’s something I’ve been eating quite frequently. I’ve really grown into this country, and I really do enjoy it here, and so does my family, and I really love how passionate the fans are.

Have you learned any Turkish words?

Just the bad words I’ll say, so we’re not gonna go into that, but in terms of the fluency, that’s not something that I’ve really practiced and developed yet.

Lastly, there were a lot of rumors linking you with a move back to England, but you ended up remaining put in Istanbul this past summer. How much longer do you see yourself staying in Türkiye?

Regarding that transfer window, I think when the right offer for me and the club arrives, and we both see eye to eye, and it makes sense for everyone, then I’ll leave. Maybe something can happen in the future, but until then, as I said, Başakşehir is my home. My family loves Istanbul, everything’s here, the people are great, and I think I’m comfortable in the sense that I’m living here, and my family’s happy. I’m enjoying my football, and that’s the main thing for me. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m happy where I am.