In fitting with MTN's status as the first and only global sponsor of a FIFA World Cup from Africa, Essien asserted: “I, too, am an African.”

“Although I play football in the world's most competitive league, my heart is in Africa. Like millions of others from Cape to Cairo, I can't wait to be part of the 2010 action,” Essien said. 

Explaining his role as part of the MTN 2010 FIFA World Cup team, he said he will be communicating the message of Africa's competitiveness to deliver an event as spectacular as anything ever seen before.

Essien said: “I am among a few from Africa who have made it on the international football scene. Yet, very few people from this continent get the opportunity to watch us perform.”

He added: “Therefore, the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Afric will be a rare platform for ordinary people to witness the world's most talented players on the soccer pitch doing extraordinary things,”

Essien said he was looking forward to witnessing history being made as ordinary people take advantage of the unparalleled economic opportunity that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will bring.

The chairman of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee, Dr. Irvin Khoza, said: “Michael Essien is the embodiment of a complete footballer. There can be no better face to promote African football and Africa's first FIFA World Cup across MTN's vast network on the African continent. Michael is well-endowed with tremendous football skills and is also well-mannered and a perfect ambassador for African football.”

MTN Group Executive for Corporate Affairs, Nozipho January-Bardill, expressed delight at having Essien as part of the MTN 2010 team.
 
“Essien's meteoric rise to soccer stardom - from playing soccer on the streets of Accra to plying his trade in the world's most competitive football league in England - resembles that of MTN which has grown from being a small telecommunications operator in 1994 to being a multinational giant.”

“MTN's widespread presence in Africa, also with operations in the Middle East, cannot be denied. It is truly fitting that it is the first and only African sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, with the top football icon from Africa - Michael Essien - as its proud associate,” said January-Bardill.