| Nelson Mensah | |
| Fullname: | Nelson Samuel Mensah |
| Birth Date: | 7 December 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Ghana |
| Position: | Forward |
| Years1: | 1991–1993 |
| Caps1: | 21 |
| Goals1: | 5 |
| Years2: | 1993–1994 |
| Caps2: | 13 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Totalcaps: | 34 |
| Totalgoals: | 6 |
| Nationalyears1: | 1993 |
| Nationalteam1: | Ghana U20 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 1991–1993 |
| Nationalteam2: | Ghana |
| Nationalcaps2: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 1 |
Nelson Samuel Mensah (born 7 December 1973) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
In the middle of the 1991–92 season, Nelson Mensah signed with Dinamo București and became one of the first foreign players that arrived in Romania after the 1989 Revolution and the first African player to play in the Romanian top division Divizia A.[1] [2] He made his debut in the competition when coach Florin Halagian sent him on the field in the 85th minute and he scored a goal a minute later in a 4–0 over Petrolul Ploiești, gaining a total of 12 appearances with two goals scored as the club won the title undefeated.[3] [4] In the following season he played all the four games from the 1992–93 Champions League campaign, helping The Red Dogs eliminate Kuusysi Lahti in the first round, being eliminated by Olympique Marseille in the second one and he scored three goals in three victories in the league against Rapid București, Petrolul and Sportul Studențesc București.[5] [6]
Afterwards, Mensah went to play for Hapoel Tel Aviv, making 13 appearances and scoring once in the 1993–94 Liga Leumit season.
Nelson Mensah played two games for Ghana's under-20 national team at the 1993 World Youth Championship, both of them being draws with Uruguay and Germany in the group stage.[7] [8]
Mensah made his debut for Ghana's senior team in a 1–0 victory against Nigeria at the 1991 CEDEAO Cup in which he scored the only goal of the match. His second game was a friendly game in which he came as a substitute in a 2–0 victory against Indonesia.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Dinamo București | Divizia A | 1991–92 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | |
| 1992–93 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4[9] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | |||
| Total | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 5 | |||
| Hapoel Tel Aviv | Liga Leumit | 1993–94 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | |
| Career total | 34 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 6 | |||
Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Nelson Mensah goal.[10]
Dinamo București