WHILE tomorrow afternoon's eagerly-awaited UEFA Cup showdown between Middlesbrough and Manchester City will be beamed around the world, it is safe to assume that it will not be making headline news in the Ghanaian town of Nkawkaw.

Roughly equivalent in size to Bishop Auckland, Nkawkaw's inhabitants are more concerned with the grim realities of life in a society in which more than 30 per cent of the population live below the poverty line than the glitz and glamour of the Premiership.

On a day when Manchester United fans are up in arms about a change in ownership at Old Trafford, it is sobering to think that Malcolm Glazer's valuation of England's biggest club is almost a sixth of the annual budget of the Ghananian government, a body responsible for the well-being of more than 21 million people.

Yet, thanks to the largesse of one of Ghana's most famous footballing sons, a tiny fraction of the Premiership's immense wealth is helping to improve the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.

In an era when top-flight footballers are regularly derided for their immorality and selfishness, Middlesbrough midfielder George Boateng is bucking the trend.

The Dutch international was born in Nkawkaw in September 1975 and spent his first nine years living in his home town and the Ghanaian capital Accra.

While his career has subsequently taken him all over Europe, he has never forgotten his roots, his heritage or the family he left behind.

A proportion of his weekly wage bill goes back to Ghana to support his relatives and the numerous charitable organisations he has established in his homeland.

For 90 minutes this afternoon, the combative midfielder will give his all in an attempt to guide Middlesbrough into the UEFA Cup for the second season in succession.

But, while victory would earn the club more than £2m and guarantee each member of the squad a hefty win bonus, Boateng will not be obsessing about the financial consequences of his afternoon's work.

After watching his family scrimp and save to pay for electricity, he knows there is more to life than pounds and pence.

"I never saw football as a way to become financially independent or have a luxury lifestyle," explained Boateng, who has emerged as Middlesbrough's most important midfielder this season.

"I always saw it as a sport. I wanted to be the best at what I was doing - but that was about personal pride, not money.

"The wealth and the luxury was not important to me. I wasn't brought up that way by my parents.

"I always had to do my homework, I had to wash my own clothes and do the dishes. It was part of growing up for me. I never had luxury.

"That was never an issue for me though. When you are young, it is great because you don't see the negative side of life. Everything is beautiful.

"It is only now, when you go back, that you realise that things you thought were great in the past are not so great after all.

"I only have good experiences of Ghana. I enjoyed my time there but, because you grow up, you suddenly see how difficult it is for people to survive in a country like that.

"You have to live without things that are normal here. Things like warm water or electricity are very normal here but, over there, people have to spend money they can't really afford on buying it and, even then, it is not reliable."

Nevertheless, Boateng insists that the hardships he endured as a child helped to mould him into the person and the player he is today.

Nothing was handed to him on a plate and, as a result, he remains unfazed by the trappings of fame that have unbalanced plenty of his fellow footballers in recent years.

"I wasn't poor because I was loved by my parents," said Boateng. "What do you describe as poor? Is it because you lack materialistic things? That's not how I have lived my life. Just because you don't have certain things doesn't mean that you are poor.

"As long as you have a roof over your head, you have clothes and shoes, and you have food, that's all you need in Africa."

Boateng's earliest memories of childhood are happy ones, but the sad reality of the African continent is that his life prospects would almost certainly have been poorer had he not emigrated to Holland in the early 1980s.

His family - rich by Ghanaian standards - were desperate for him to receive the best possible schooling and, when the opportunity arose, he was sent to Holland to join his repatriated father.

"I moved to Holland because of education," said Boateng. "My parents obviously thought I was a clever lad and they said that, to progress in my life, I needed to go to a better school.

"Because my dad already lived in Holland at that stage, the easiest thing was for me to go there.

"I remember all the local guys telling me that I should go and play football for the local club, but I wasn't interested.

"I enjoyed playing street football, but I enjoyed school more. I hardly missed a day and, it was only when I started turning down clubs that wanted to sign me, that my friends started saying 'This guy does not have a full mind'. That made me think."

Boateng's obvious talent quickly marked him out as a future superstar but, while Dutch scouts were alert to the possibilities that lay in front of him, his parents were not so easily convinced.

"My parents were not very keen on football," he revealed. "Where they grew up in Ghana, the footballers were penniless and did not have a good life.

"They didn't get paid enough and there was no real future in the football industry in Africa.

"My parents were not very keen. They saw it as something to do in your spare time - a hobby - nothing more than that.

"It was only when I signed for Feyenoord that they thought 'Maybe our son has got the talent to achieve something'."

Since then, of course, Boateng has gone on to achieve a great deal. He made 70 appearances for Feyenoord, before carving out a career in England with Coventry, Aston Villa and, latterly, Middlesbrough.

Two full international caps for Holland underline his integration into European life but, when asked to talk about his heritage, Boateng will always refer to himself as a proud African.

Today, he will attempt to change the fortunes of Middlesbrough football club.

Tomorrow, his fortune will help to change the lives of some of Africa's most impoverished inhabitants.