Born October 1st, 1966, George Weah’s name is synonymous with football than any other work. But today he wants to be president of Liberia. His other names are Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman.
His persona is also identified with first in many football competitions that he engaged in during his playing days that span close to two decades: first in his native Liberia, then to Cameroun, France, Italy and England.
Weah was named after Charles Oppong, a former Kumasi Asante Kotoko left back, who had a professional football stint in Liberia in the mid-80s.
Arguably, the greatest African player of all-time and as one of the best forwards of his generation, George Weah started his journey as being the first in African football when he won the African footballer of the Year in 1989, 1994 and 1995.
In the same 1995 Weah chalked another first; this time he won the FIFA World Player of the Year which came accompanied by another first: the Ballon d’Or; thus becoming the first African player to win these awards.
With such awesome credentials it became little of a difficulty for connoisseurs of the game to name him as African Player of the Century. Another first there! Known for his acceleration, speed, and dribbling ability, in addition to his clinical goal-scoring finishing, Weah was described by FIFA as “the precursor of the multi-functional strikers of today.”
In 2004, he was named by Pele in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players. Weah spent 14 years of his professional football career playing for clubs in France, Italy and England. He started rather slowly in 1984 with youth Liberian teams Young Survivors and Bongrade before moving to Liberian top flight teams Mighty Barolle and Invincible Eleven.
The legendary Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger, brought Weah to Europe when he signed him for French Island club Monaco in 1988. Weah then moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where he won Ligue 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League.
He signed for Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, and won the Italian Serie A twice with some delectable goal scoring. One of such was when he played for AC Milan in Italy. Weah in a solo move ran the length of the field to score a classic goal against Verona.
He moved to the English Premier League towards the end of his career and had spells with Chelsea and Manchester City, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001, and subsequently ending his career with Al-Jazira, UAE in 2003. At the international level, he represented Liberia at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions.
An idol in Africa, Weah has been heavily involved in politics in his homeland Liberia. He ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting.
In the 2011 election, he ran for vice president on Winston Tubman, a son of the lineage of William Tubman, the first President of Liberia. Running as a Congress for Democratic Change candidate, Weah was elected to the Liberian House of Senate in 2014.
Today Sports
…with Gottlieb Baako
