Prince Christian Buaben Abankwah (born 23 April 1988), known as Prince Buaben, is a Ghanaian professional footballer. Buaben grew up in the Netherlands and was a youth player at AFC Ajax, but was forced to leave the club due to residency issues. He joined Dundee United in 2007 and won the Scottish Cup with them in 2010. He played in England from 2011, with Watford and later Carlisle United. He returned to Scotland in 2014, playing for Partick Thistle on loan prior to joining Hearts. Buaben helped Hearts win promotion in 2015, during his four years with the club. He signed for Falkirk in October 2018. Buaben has made one appearance for the Ghana national team. Career Buaben was born in Akosombo, Ghana, but his mother took his family to the Netherlands when he was nine, as she thought that they would have a better life there. In the Netherlands where he lived for nine years, his big break came when he was playing for local side AVV Zeeburgia against Ajax in a friendly, which they lost 9–1, with Buaben notching his side's solitary strike. "After the game, Danny Blind told my uncle that they had been impressed with me, but nothing happened for a while. Eventually, Ajax called me and I went there for a two-week trial when I was 15." Dundee United A player who grew up in the famous Ajax Amsterdam youth system mostly as a striker, the 19-year-old did enough to impress Dundee United manager Craig Levein. He did not have the necessary residential status in the Netherlands to obtain the required work visa when a full-time contract was offered to him by the Dutch giants. "In Holland, you cannot play professional football without a resident's permit, and I was not due to get mine until the following year. But, because I did not have a permit, I could not play professionally, and the club had no choice but to let me go," he recalls. He returned to his native Ghana and due to his family's UK status obtained a valid visa, which led to a recommendation to Dundee United manager Craig Levein. Buaben joined the club as a trialist at the start of pre-season training and has impressed the manager sufficiently to be awarded a full-time contract. On 20 July 2007, Dundee United signed the Ghanaian on a three-year contract, following a successful trial period