'Kevin' was a birth certificate mistake – Boateng

Berlin (AFP) – Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has revealed that he dislikes his colourful first name because of a small mistake on the birth certificate  which stopped him being called Kelvin-Prince.

“I don’t like my first name,” the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder told local station HIT Radio FFH while explaining why he only has the name ‘Prince’ on his shirt.

“I should have been called Kelvin, that would have been a top name: Kelvin-Prince.”

“That was a mistake on the birth certificate – no one knows that.

“I wouldn’t have had to play football then, because that name alone is already stellar, and then they wrote it wrong in the hospital.

“That’s why I am called Kevin and it stayed that way.

“My mum had surgery right after the birth and couldn’t intervene.”

The 30-year-old, the half-brother of Germany star Jerome Boateng, has played all 11 Bundesliga games for Eintracht since joining in August after a hurried departure for family reasons from Spanish club Las Palmas.

Boateng has played for AC Milan, Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Hertha Berlin and Schalke in a colourful career.

He made the last of his 15 appearances for Ghana at the 2014 World Cup, but left the tournament under a dark cloud after a row with the then coach.