The last has not been heard of African players taking part in a traditional ritual known as Voodoo.
Voodoo – “Great Spirit” – is a religion or practice synonymous to West Africa - with Ghana believed to be its ancestral home. It is often used to lift curses put in place by juju witchcraft.
Reports suggests many top African stars, both past and present has been involved in the fetish act to boost their careers above their contemporaries.
While in some other cases, Voodoo is used to wreck the career of players by aggrieved family members who fill cheated or not well taken care of by the player.
Notably is Ex-Spurs striker Emmanuel Adebayor, 31, who claimed his family in Togo used juju on him.
Another is Bournemouth winger Max Gradel, 27, who suffered ligament damage playing only his first game in the Premier League after his move from France.
In the case of Newcastle United striker, Papiss Cisse, the player took part in the ritual to end a goal drought, fearing he had been cursed by a rival.
Cisse became worried when his run of sensational goals after joining Newcastle came to a sudden end.
Convinced a player from another club had cursed him, he begged teammate Cheick Tiote to help lift the blight.
According to the Chronicle, after the ceremony, said to have even involved bloodletting, Cisse, 30 – who comes from Senegal – returned to his winning ways.
“It’s one of those things you really couldn’t believe at first," a Newcastle insider said.
“Papiss is very superstitious and became convinced he’d been cursed to stop scoring.”
Tiote, from Ivory Coast is said to have visited a “high priest” in Newcastle for help.
The insider added: “Cheick is Papiss’s good friend so he agreed to it, even though it apparently involved bloodletting and various bits of hocus pocus.”
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