Eric Akoto

Eric Akoto (born 20 July 1980) is a naturalized Togolese former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in Ghana, he represented the Togo national team at international level.

Club career
Akoto was born in Accra, Ghana. He started his career in Ghana, at Liberty Professionals FC in 1998 before moving to Austria later that year to play for Grazer AK. In 2002, he moved to FK Austria Wien, before moving to Germany in 2004 to play for FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt. On 1 June 2005, he returned to Austria to play for VfB Admira Wacker Mödling. In 2006, he once again moved to Grazer AK. In July 2007 he moved to Slovenia signing for Interblock Ljubljana.

In the January 2008 transfer window, Akoto went on trial with Football League Championship club Blackpool in England. He moved in July 2008 from Slovenian PrvaLiga Telekom Slovenije club, Interblock Ljubljana to Austrian Bundesliga club Kapfenberger SV. In 2009, he moved to Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and later to OFI Crete.

In July 2010, he signed with Australian A-League club North Queensland Fury FC where he played as a central defender. In the Fury's round 3 match versus Melbourne Victory, Akoto was red carded after an incident involving Kevin Muscat, where the Victory defender would not let Akoto pick up his mouthguard and resulted in Akoto pushing Muscat to the ground. Despite the incident being regarded as controversial by many media commentators, North Queensland opted against contesting the mandatory one-week suspension.

In December 2011, he signed for Floriana FC.

International career
Born in the Ghanaian capital of Accra Akoto played for neighbouring Togo. He was part of the Togo national team's squad in the 2006 World Cup finals where Togo were knocked out of the competition in the group stages. He was on the bus carrying the Togo team which was attacked by gunfire on 8 January 2010.