Lalas Abubakar was 19 when he left his native country of Ghana in hopes of launching a professional football career in the United States. He was 22 when he was drafted by Columbus Crew in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. Now 30, he’s playing a key role in FC Dallas’ playoff pursuit.

Born in Kumasi, Abubakar was raised in the Ghanaian capital of Accra and attended the University of Ghana, where he played in their football team. When a teammate was selected to join the Dayton Flyers program, he recommended Abubakar to his new team, which offered him a scholarship. Abubakar left Ghana for the USA in 2014, making a name for himself in defence for the Flyers with 4 goals and 6 assists in 61 appearances.

“My family was always on top of me so that I didn’t miss school, and I also had that drive to go to school,” stated Abubakar in an exclusive Joy Sports interview. “I didn't even play on my high school soccer team until my junior year, when I was at a boarding school. I love the way the system is here in the USA, where students can finish classes and then go to practice. Here in Africa, you have to practice at 5 a.m. and then rush back and take a shower and go to class. It was a little bit too much, but we got through it, and through there, I became a captain in high school, and I was thinking, ‘I love this! This is where I want to be, I want to graduate high school and make it to the University of Ghana, because that's where most of the college scouts come around and watch the players.”

“I took off and pushed myself. I told my family, ‘This is the only college I want to go, I didn’t want to go anywhere else, so I applied and fortunately got accepted. And fortunately, before playing this college tournament, one of my high school friends said to his teammates, ‘Hey, Lalas is coming to this college. You guys need to get him to come play for your hall of residence. Fortunately, the college coach was watching, and he was really impressed with my first game. Right after the game, he called me and asked, ‘Where are you from? We had a little chat, I told him I was a freshman, and he said, ‘You’ve got to come on the school team. My first year, I started playing, and the University of Dayton’s scouts came in the summer of 2013 to sign my friend, who recommended me, and that changed my life.”

Similar to many others like Michael Essien and Christian Gray, Abubakar has been able to parlay his childhood passion for football into a steady career. After making 36 appearances for Columbus Crew, Abubakar decided to launch a new journey away from Ohio, making the move to Colorado Rapids in 2019. The Rapids made the loan permanent as the Ghanaian impressed in between the defence, winning the team’s Defender of the Year award in 2019 and 2020 and registering 153 appearances. However, despite regularly making deep runs in the playoffs, he was unable to come away with the first trophy of his career before making the move to FC Dallas in December 2024. He’s quickly imposed himself in the team, making 28 appearances thus far and helping them push for a playoff position.

Having previously played for Ghana at the U-20 level, Abubakar is still holding out hope of representing the Black Stars’ senior team one day. And if he continues developing at this rate, Otto Addo may have no other choice but to select him for a maiden call-up.

“Man, it's been my focus since Day One. The Ghana coach has known me since I was in Columbus and had 2-3 teammates who were consistently getting called up in 2018, when I was playing most of the games. Every year, they would tell me, ‘Hey, we know you are there, just keep going, you know we're going to call you up,’ and I never got a chance. I'm praying that I'll keep working hard and keep hoping that someday, I'll get a chance to get a call-up.