George Weah
George Manneh Oppong Weah is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before his election for the presidency, Weah served as senator from Montserrado County. He played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career which ended in 2003. Weah is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state, and the only African Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in history, winning both awards in 1995. He won the African Footballer of the Year twice and is considered one of the greatest strikers ever.
After beginning his career in his native Liberia, Weah spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy, and England. Arsène Wenger brought him to Europe, signing him for Monaco in 1988. Weah moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where they won Division 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. He signed for AC Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, winning the Serie A twice. Later in his career, he joined the Premier League having spells at Chelsea and Manchester City, winning the FA Cup with Chelsea, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001. He ended his career with Al Jazira in 2003. FourFourTwo named Weah one of the best players never to win the UEFA Champions League.
Weah represented Liberia at the international level, winning 75 caps, scoring 18 goals for his country, and playing at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions. He also played in a friendly in 2018, where his number 14 jersey was retired. Regarded as one of the best players never to have played at the FIFA World Cup, Scott Murray in The Guardian refers to Weah as "hamstrung by hailing from a global minnow".
Widely regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time, Weah was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or in 1995, becoming the first and only player to win these awards while representing an African country internationally. In 1989 and 1995, he was also named the African Footballer of the Year winning the official award twice, and in 1996, he was named African Player of the Century. Known for his acceleration, speed, and dribbling ability, in addition to his goal-scoring, Weah was described by FIFA as "the precursor of the multi-functional strikers of today". In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
Weah became involved in politics in Liberia following his retirement from football. He formed the Congress for Democratic Change and 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 unsuccessfully for vice president alongside Winston Tubman. Weah was subsequently elected to the Senate of Liberia for Montserrado County in the 2014 election. Weah was elected President of Liberia in the 2017 election, defeating the incumbent vice president Joseph Boakai, and was sworn in on 22 January 2018. Weah was defeated in a rematch with Boakai in the 2023 election.
Early life and education
George Manneh Oppong Weah was born on 1 October 1966 in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, and was raised in Clara Town, a slum in the city. He is a member of the Kru ethnic group, which hails from south-eastern part of Liberia, one of the poorest areas of the country. His father, William T. Weah Sr., was a mechanic while his mother, Anna Quaye Weah, was a merchant. He has three brothers, William, Moses, and Wolo. He was one of thirteen children largely raised by his devoutly Christian paternal grandmother, Emma Klonjlaleh Brown after his parents separated when Weah was still a baby. He attended middle school at Muslim Congress and high school at Wells Hairston High School and reportedly dropped out in his final year of studies.Football career
Club career
Early career in Liberia, Cameroon, Monaco and France
Weah began to play football for Young Survivors, a club based in Clara Town, in 1981 at the age of 15. Jason Burke, writing for The Observer, described how Weah scored "two spectacular goals" on his debut, "one hit from such a tight angle that it went in-off having struck both posts". In his three years with Young Survivors, the club earned two promotions, from the fourth level of football in Liberia to the second. He signed for Liberian Premier League club Bong Range United in 1984, where he played for one season, before joining Mighty Barrolle, one of the biggest clubs in Liberia. Weah was not a regular starter for Mighty Barrolle despite scoring regularly, which prompted a move to their rivals, Invincible Eleven, in 1986. He helped the club win the 1987 Liberian Premier League title, was the league's top scorer, and was named as the league's player of the season. Before his football career allowed him to move abroad, Weah worked for the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation as a switchboard operator. He signed for Cameroonian Premier League club Tonnerre Yaoundé in 1987 after impressing during a match against them, and scored twice on his debut against Canon Yaoundé.File:Coppa UEFA 1992-93 - Napoli vs PSG - George Weah.jpg|thumb|upright=0.79|left|Weah celebrating his goal during the match between PSG and Napoli in the second round of 1992–93 UEFA Cup
Weah's abilities were noticed by the Cameroon national team manager, Claude Le Roy, who recommended him to Arsène Wenger, the manager of French Division 1 club Monaco. Weah signed for Monaco 1988 for a transfer fee of £12,000, after Wenger had flown to Africa prior to the signing to see him play. Weah has credited Wenger as an important influence on his career. During his time with Monaco, Weah was named the African Footballer of the Year for the first time in 1989. This was his first major award and he took it back home for the entire country to celebrate. Weah won the 1990–91 Coupe de France, playing in the final on 8 June in which Monaco beat Marseille 1–0 at the Parc des Princes. He helped Monaco reach the final of the 1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup, scoring four goals in nine cup appearances.
Weah subsequently played for Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he won the Coupe de France in 1993 and 1995, Division 1 in 1994, and the Coupe de la Ligue in 1995 during a highly prolific and successful period; he also became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League, with seven goals, after reaching the semi-finals with the club, one of which was a skillful individual "wonder-goal" against Bayern Munich in the group stage, on 23 November 1994. During his time at the club, he also managed to reach the semi-finals of the 1992–93 UEFA Cup, and the semi-finals of the 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup; in total, he scored 16 goals in 25 European games. In 1994, he won the African Footballer of the Year Award for the second time in his career.
AC Milan and individual success
Weah joined AC Milan in 1995, winning the Italian league in 1996 under Fabio Capello. He played alongside Roberto Baggio and Dejan Savićević in Milan's attack, as well as Marco Simone on occasion, and finished the season as Milan's top goalscorer. He won the Serie A title once again in 1999. During his time with the club, he also reached the 1998 Coppa Italia final, and finished as runner-up in the Supercoppa Italiana on two occasions, in 1996 and 1999. Despite their European dominance in the early 1990s, Milan was less successful in Europe during this time, however, with their best result being a quarter-final finish in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup.Exhibiting skill, athleticism and goalscoring prowess, Weah became famous at Milan for scoring several notable goals, in particular a solo goal against Hellas Verona at the San Siro which saw him deftly control the ball from Verona's corner kick just outside his penalty area, before he set off. With all his teammates back defending the corner Weah made a beeline for goal, leaving his teammates in his wake. His teammate Zvonimir Boban stated, "It was an incredible run. We were thinking, 'When's he going to stop? When's he going to stop? He's not going to stop! He's never going to stop!'". Weah finished by rifling the ball into the bottom left corner before an exuberant goal celebration.
Due to his performances with both Paris Saint-Germain and Milan, in 1995 Weah was the recipient of several individual awards: he won the Ballon d'Or, the Onze d'Or, and was named FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the first and, currently, only African player to win these awards, and second African-born player to do so after Eusébio. Weah dedicated his FIFA World Player of the Year victory to his former manager, Arsène Wenger, stating that it was thanks to him that he was able to develop into a world-class player. That year, Weah also won the African Player of the Year Award for the third time in his career, and was named to the Onze de Onze by the French football magazine Onze Mondial. In 1996, Weah finished second in the FIFA World Player of the Year ranking; he was also the recipient of the FIFA Fair Play Award, and was voted the African Player of the Century by sport journalists from around the world.
On 20 November 1996, after Milan's Champions League draw at Porto, Weah broke the nose of Portuguese defender Jorge Costa in the players' tunnel, resulting in a six-match European ban. Weah said he exploded in frustration after putting up with racist tauntings from Costa during both of the team's Champions League matches that autumn. Costa strenuously denied the accusations of racism and was not charged by UEFA as no witnesses could verify Weah's allegations, not even his Milan teammates. Weah later attempted to apologise to Costa but this was rebuffed by the Portuguese, who considered the charges of racist insults levelled against him to be defamatory and took Weah to court. The incident led to Costa undergoing facial surgery and he was subsequently sidelined for three weeks. Despite the incident, Weah still received the FIFA Fair Play Award in 1996.