Growing up and early football career Reuben Ayarna was born on 22 October 1985 in Accra the capital city of Ghana, where he lived for the first four years of his life. His mother was the principal of a school and his father worked as an official at a state oil company. In connection with Ayarna's father being transferred to
Tamale, the regional capital of the country's northern region, and taking Ayarna with him, he discovered football. In the middle class to which the family belonged, football was seen as a sport for the poor street children, and Ayarna's parents disapproved of the son's new employment, as they wanted him to invest everything in his studies. However, Reuben continued to play football after school, even though it resulted in penalties from both parents and school staff. His parents were still not in agreement but he still went on to play in the club without their knowledge.
College football in the USA During the final year in high school, Ayarna was divided; he had a hard time seeing how he could combine playing football with university studies. However, there would be a solution to the problem;
Sellas Tetteh was the coach of Ghana's U23 national team and had heard from one of his contacts at
Boston College in the USA that the school was interested in picking up a Ghanaian who was both a good football player and a student. Tetteh tipped the school about Ayarna, and they sent over a scout who interviewed him and watched two matches. Ayarna was offered a scholarship to attend
Boston College for three years and play on their soccer team and in 2005 he left his home country for the United States. While playing for Boston College Ayarna helped the team to finish first in their conference as well as win the 2007
Atlantic Coast Conference Soccer Championship. After playing for both Boston College and Boston Olympiacos, Ayarna decided to forgo finishing his college education in business to play professional soccer in Europe.
GAIS 2008 season After Nigerian defensive midfielder
Prince Ikpe Ekong signed for
Djurgårdens IF, GAIS needed a replacement, with the help of agent Patrick Mörk, Ayarna was discovered as a potential replacement and in July 2008 he signed a 4.5-year deal with
GAIS which was due to expire after the 2012 season. He was given the number 6 jersey and he began a successful professional career as a fan favorite. The debut in the Allsvenskan was delayed until the last round of the season, Ayarna made his debut on 8 November 2008 in a match against AIK when he was named on the starting line up. Among other things, he was close to scoring on a long shot, and was named the
man of the match.
2009 season At the end of the season GAIS changed their coach and brought in
Alexander Axén, after which in 2009 Ayarna started playing more regularly. The cooperation of the two players was a contributing factor to the victory and the following season they were both regular in the team's midfield.
2009 to 2012 season In the summer of 2011, Mårtensson left the club, but Ayarna still remained a regular player and formed a new partnership with
Markus Gustafsson in the inner midfield. That season, Ayarna was a clear contributing factor to GAIS's fifth-place position in the
Allsvenskan; the club's highest ranking in the league since 1989. On 22 April 2012, Ayarna scored his first goal and only goal for Gais when he scored the final goal in 2–0 win against
IFK Norrköping.
BK Häcken 2013 season In February 2013,
BK Häcken signed Ayarna on a
free transfer after his contract with GAIS had expired and he refused to sign a new contract. He was lauded by the club's
sporting director as being a good asset in defence and a good signing for the club
Sonny Karlsson. He played 27 league matches by the end of the 2015 season. In July 2017, Ilves signed his fellow Ghanaian player
Baba Mensah. He showed excitement of a Ghanaian joining him at the club and mentioned that he had what it took to succeed in the Finnish league.
SJK On 30 October 2017, Ayarna signed a one-year contract with
Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, with the option of an additional year. He played in 16 league matches and scored 1 goal in his year stint with the club. playing the full 90 minutes of the match. He equalized in the 56th minute of the match to help the match end in a 1–1 draw. He helped the club to a 3rd place league finish at the end of the season, becoming a key player of the team. He played in all matches except one in the second round of the season from when he signed, playing the full 90 minutes in all those matches to also help the team qualify for the Europa League. At the end of the season he had made 11 appearances in the league and scored 1 goal. Ayarna still maintained his role as a key member of the squad playing starting in several matches within the season. He played the full 90 minutes as KuPS scored 5–1
FC Lahti in a league match on 25 June 2019. He scored his first goal of the season against his former club on 24 May 2019. He scored the only goal of the match with KUPS winning 1–0 at home. He scored his second goal of the season during the final game of the season against
Inter Turku to allow KuPS win 2–0. At the end of the season KuPS emerged as champions of the
Veikkausliiga for the first time in 43 years ending the club's 43-year wait for the title since they were last crowned champions of Finland in 1976.
Vermont Green In April 2022, Ayarna joined
USL League Two club
Vermont Green as a player-coach. Ayarna did not rejoin the Green for the 2024 season. == International career ==