Kolja Afriyie was born the son of a Ghanaian father and a German mother in Flensburg. He grew up in Flensburg and also visited in Flensburg both a kindergarten and a school that is part of the Danish minority. Playing football, he joined the DGF Flensborg, which also belongs to the Danish minority. In 1998, he joined the youth academy of
Hamburger SV, but the contract was canceled again in 2000 because "of performance reasons" and because of school problems. In 2001, he moved to Denmark, signing a contract with
AC Horsens. In Horsens, he was initially part of the reserve team, but he quickly rose in the first team and was a top performer. In 2006, he moved to Superliga rivals
FC Midtjylland in
Herning. On 28 October 2008, he signed a new contract keeping him at FC Midtjylland until 30 June 2011. On 22 June 2010, he left FC Midtjylland and returned to Germany to sign with
FC Energie Cottbus. Only a year later, he broke up his contract and left the club. A short time later, he returned to FC Midtjylland. In May 2014, Afriyie retired his career at the age of 32 years. ==International career==