The saying goes that ‘it’s not how long you live, but how well you live’. The statement suggests that the true measure of man is not his longevity on earth but the impact he makes in the period he spends on earth.

Christian Atsu’s life might have ended at a young age of 31 but in his short period on earth, he certainly made an impact.

From June 1, 2012, when he made his Black Stars debut against Lesotho, Christian Atsu, until his demise, touched lives.

The highlight of Atsu’s football career perhaps was in 2015 when he dragged Ghana to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

In that tournament in Equatorial Guinea, Christian Atsu, with his skills, goals and assists shone and cemented his name in the memories of Ghanaians.

His performance in that tournament saw him win the Player of the Tournament and Goal of the tournament.

An off the field activity that made Ghanaians love Christian Atsu was his philanthropic works. Atsu became a symbol of the freedom of prisoners as he joined forces with the Crime Check Foundation to free quite a number of people who were languishing in prison for petty crimes and fines.

These two incidents were the running theme in the vox pop done by GhanaWeb about how Ghanaians will remember the fallen star.

At Ashalley Botwe in Accra where Atsu’s family house is located, some resident mentioned those two things as their fondest memories of him.

Christian Atsu was pronounced dead on Saturday, February 18, 2023 after being trapped in the debris of a building for twelve days following an earthquake in Turkey where he was playing for Hatayspor.

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