John Paintsil - International Career

International Career

Paintsil was a member of the Ghana Under 21 team who were runner-up in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina in 2001 and played for the senior team in the African Cup of Nations in Mali in 2002 and Egypt in 2006. He was also a member of the Ghana 2004 Olympics football team who exited in the first round in Greece, having finished in third place in Group B. Paintsil played in all the matches of Ghana's national team in the 2006 World Cup finals, where Ghana were beaten by Brazil in the second round.

Following the first and second goals in Ghana's 2–0 victory over the Czech Republic on 17 June 2006, he celebrated by waving an Israeli flag, he also waved as the final whistle blew. This action provoked some protests in his native country Ghana and the Arab world. Afterwards the Ghanaian Football Association issued an apology, and said of Pantsil "He was naive". He was a member of the Ghanaian 2010 World Cup team that reached the quarter-finals in South Africa before losing to Uruguay. He played in all five games. On 13 June 2010, in a World Cup group-stage match against Serbia, another variation of his name appeared on his jersey, Panstil.