Former Black Stars right back John Paintsil became a cult hero in Ghana historic folklore when he was part of the Black Stars team that qualified Ghana to her first world cup.
Painstil had a decent club career right after Ghana made her first appearance in the 2006 World Cup.
The left back had stints with West Ham United, Fulham and the Leicester City right up to 2012.
In 2013, news spread like wild fire that John Paintsil was in police custody for assaulting his wife.
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The now retired defender in speaking to Kwese TV on the programme “Home Run” stated that he was quite saddened by the rumours that came up at the time.
He also felt that from that time onwards he did lose a lot of opportunities which could made him stay afloat since he was still active as a player.
Paintsil initially denied that he had ever beaten his wife.
“You know social media travels a lot and anything you post whether it’s true or not can easily be believed and by the time the public find out the truth it’s too late.”
“These things that came in destroyed a lot of opportunities closed a lot of doors. The news that came in was untrue. I never stabbed my wife in the eye and my wife is still well and healthy.”
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“I am not perfect but those accusations but i can say that I was innocent.” I have never touched a woman and I will never do that.”
“What is the strength of a woman that I will go to the extent of stabbing a woman’s eye?”
Painstil also spoke on how these rumors affected his career
“A lot of clubs wanted to sign me but it did not happen because of that incident. I lost close to $ 2 million pounds due to that case.”
John Painstil also said that he looks on God to console him through this period.
“I believe in God and when you live every day and wake up to see your family it is enough.”
John Pianstil from then onwards had stints with his former club Hapoel Tel Aviv in Isreal before moving on to Santos F.C and Maritzburg in South Africa.