George Weah biography: Liberian Soccer player

Famous former soccer player

George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (born October 1, 1966 in Monrovia) is a Liberian politician and former football forward. He spent 14 years of his professional football career playing for clubs in France, Italy, and England, winning titles in two of the three nations. In 1995, he was named FIFA World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, and African Footballer of the Year. He is commonly regarded as one of the greatest African footballers of all time.Weah has since become a politician in Liberia, and ran unsuccessfully in the 2005 Liberian presidential election, losing to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in the second round of voting.

Senior clubs
Young Survivors
Bongrange Company
Mighty Barolle Monrovia
Invincible Eleven
Tonnerre Yaoundé 18 (14)
AS Monaco 103 (47)
Paris Saint-Germain 96 (32)
AC Milan 114 (46)
Chelsea F.C. 11 (3)
Manchester City 7 (1)
Olympique Marseille 19 0(5)
Al Jazira

National side

1988-2002 Liberia 65 (10)

Personal life
George Weah was born and raised in the Clara Town slum of Monrovia. He is a member of the Kru ethnic group, which hails from south-eastern Liberia's Grand Kru County, one of the poorest areas of the country. His parents were William T. Weah, Sr. and Anna Quayeweah. He was raised largely by his paternal grandmother, Emma Klonjlaleh Brown. He attended middle school at Muslim Congress and high school at Wells Hairston High School. Before his football career allowed him to move abroad, Weah worked for the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation.

Weah received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanity from the A.M.E. Zion University College in Liberia.

He is an ex-Muslim, and has stated, "I'm a Christian now, but I practiced Islam for ten years before converting to Christianity"

He is married to Clar Weah, an American of Jamaican descent, and is the father of four children: George Jr., Martha, Timothy George, and Jessica, who were adopted from Jamaica.

George Weah has Liberian and French nationality.

George Weah Jr. once trained with the US U-20 team, with his friend Freddy Adu . Weah Jr. played for A.C. Milan Primavera team in 2005-06 season.

Football career

At club level, Weah started his career in his native Liberia, where he represented four clubs (Young Survivors, Bongrange Company, Mighty Barolle Monrovia and Invincible Eleven) before moving to Tonnerre Yaoundé in Cameroon, where he won the 1988 Cameroon championship. He moved to Europe later in 1988 when he was signed by Arsène Wenger, (manager of Monaco), who Weah credits as an important influence on his career. At Monaco, Weah was a member of the team who won the French Cup in 1991. In the 1990s Weah played for Paris Saint Germain (1992 - 95), with whom he won the French league in 1994; and AC Milan (1995 - 2000), with whom he won the Italian league in 1996 and 1999. In 1995 he was named European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. After leaving Milan in August 1999 Weah moved to Chelsea, Manchester City and Olympique Marseille in quick succession, before leaving Marseille in May 2001 for Al Jazira FC, in the United Arab Emirates.

As successful as he was at club level, Weah was not able to bring over that success to the Liberian national team. He has done everything with the squad from playing to coaching to financing it, but Liberia failed to make a single World Cup, falling a point short in qualifying for the 2002 tournament. This led to Weah being known as one of the best footballers never to have played in a World Cup.

At the 2004 ESPY Awards, he won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for his efforts. Weah was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He has been named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, a role he suspended while he pursues a political career. Weah has tried to use football as a way to bring happiness and promote education for children in Liberia. In 1998, Weah launched a CD called Lively Up Africa featuring the singer Frisbie Omo Isibor and eight other African football stars. The proceeds from this CD went to children's programmes in the countries of origin of the athletes involved.

Weah is President of the Junior Professionals, a football team he founded in Monrovia in 1994. As a way to encourage young people to remain in school, the club's only requirement for membership is school attendance. Many young people, recruited from all over Liberia, went on to play for the Liberian national team.

Political career
Although he had denied interest in politics during his football career, in mid November 2004, Weah announced his intention to stand in the October 2005 president election, having previously been a subject of a petition urging him to run. His eligibility was initially questioned due to debates over his citizenship (Weah having allegedly adopted French citizenship whilst at PSG; he has also lived in Staten Island, New York for many years now) but he was officially confirmed on 13 August 2005 as the candidate for the Congress for Democratic Change when the election commission published its final list. He won the most votes of any candidate in the first ballot on 11 October, but did not secure the required overall majority. A run off vote took place on 8 November, pitting Weah against former World Bank employee and finance minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who won the vote and is now the first elected female president in Africa. Weah disputed the electoral process, but on 21 December 2005 he dropped his legal challenge.

Much of Weah's politics are influenced by the recent Second Liberian Civil War. Starting in 1999, the conflict came to a conclusion in 2003 when the US stationed a Marine Expeditionary Unit with 2300 Marines offshore while Nigeria sent in peacekeepers as part of an Economic Community of West African States force, forcing President Charles Taylor to resign on August 11, 2003 and flee to exile in Nigeria. As a result, all of the candidates pushed for the politics of peace. During his campaign Weah repeatedly emphasized the need for UN's peace mission, known as UNMIL, to stay at least through the end of what would have been his first presidential term. Weah had also promised to bring low cost housing, electricity, running water, and better education to the countryside, where he himself lived in the 1970s. He also called for the president's term in office to be reduced to four years from six.

Family
George Weah's son, George Weah Junior, played for the AC Milan Primavera team.

World Best Player 1995
Weah was name world best for 1995 becoming the only African player to win the award. He was the 5th recipient of the very prestigious award. The Silver trophy was won by Paolo Maldini, and the Bronze by Jurgen Klinsmann. The other four recipients were: Lothar Matthaus 91, Marco Van Basten 92, Roberto Baggio 93, and Romario in 94. Weah also won the silver trophy the following year which was won by Brazilian Ronaldo.

African Player of the Year 1989,1994, 1995
Weah won the African player of the year in 1989 when with AS Monaco and 1995 with AC Milan, the year he won almost every award a footballer could win. When he won the award in 1989, it was his first major award and he took it back home for the entire nation to celebrate, similar to what he did when he won the world best title and the Onze Mondial title

European Player of the Year 1995

Weah won the prestigious European Player of the Year in 1995, becoming the only African to win the award. Sports writers from all aver Europe voted and awarded Weah as the best player in Europe in the year.

Onze Mondial 1995
The French Magazine name Weah as the top player in Europe for 1995
Fifa Fair Play Award 1996

African Player of the Century
Weah was voted the African player of the Century by sport journalist from all around the world. This award puts Weah in the company of some of the greatest player to ever played the game. Pele won the same award as the South American player of the Century and Frank Beckeber as the European player of the century.

Birthplace

Monrovia, population 572,000 (2003 census), is the capital city of Liberia. The city's economy is dominated by its harbour, which was significantly expanded by US forces during the second World War. Main exports include latex and iron ore. Materials are also manufactured on site, such as cement, refined petroleum, food products, bricks and tiles, furniture and chemicals. The harbour also has a large amount of storage and facilities for repairing ships.

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