Wea George

Sports career

George Weah was born and raised in the slums of Clara Town , at Bushrod in Monrovia ^[2] . He was born into the family of William T. Weah and Anna Quayevea, belonging to the Crewe ^{[3] [4]} . However, in childhood, his paternal grandmother, Emma Klondjlale Brown, was engaged in his upbringing, for the most part ^[5] . He attended the school of the Muslim Congress and the Wales Hairston High School ^{[6] [5]} . Prior to his departure for Europe, he worked at the Liberian Telecommunications Corporation as a telephone switch technician ^{[7] [8]} .

In mid-1989, Weah, who was a Christian , converted to Islam , and then added Usman to his name. He was a Muslim for ten years, but after the death of his grandmother he returned to the Christian faith ^[9] , professing Protestantism ^[10] .

In 1995, he was recognized as the player of the year according to FIFA , the best football player in Europe ( Golden Ball ) and the best African football player of the year . One of the two Golden Ball owners who have never played in the World Cup, and the only trophy holder whose team has never played in the World Cup, and the first holder of the Golden Ball is a non-European.

Periodically after leaving the sport, he takes part in friendly matches of the Liberian national team . The last match for the national team was played in September 2018, 15 years after the end of his professional career ^{[11] [12]} .

Policy

After completing his football career, Weah took up humanitarian and political activities, and in 2005 ran for president of Liberia. Having won in the first round of voting with 28% of the vote, in the second round he lost to 67-year-old Helen Johnson-Sirleaf , who became the first woman president in African history.

On October 12, 2017, in the first round of the presidential elections in Liberia, he won first place with 39% of the vote while counting 95.6% of the total number of voters, but he didn’t get the required 50% + 1 vote ^[13] . Thus, Weah entered the second round of elections with Joseph Bokai .

December 26, 2017 won the second round of voting, becoming the 25th president of Liberia ^[14] .

Wife - Claire Duncan-Veah, originally from Jamaica ^[15] , got married in June 1993. They have three children - George Weah Jr. (born 1987), Martha and Timothy ^[16] . In addition to children in marriage, George has children from extramarital affairs. Daughter from a relationship with Mape Coe Gono, a Liberian living in the United States ^[17] . The Georgia State Court recognized Weah as the father of a girl born in 2005; according to the DNA test, George is 99.9% her biological father ^{[18] [19]} . Another child appeared after Weah had a relationship with politician , the leader of the Liberian Democrats ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

Weah's cousin, Christopher Wre , is also a footballer.

In March 2018, the youngest son, Timothy , made his debut for the US national team ^[23] . On January 8, 2019, on loan, he moved from PSG to Celtic, where on January 19 he scored a goal in his debut against Airdrionians in the Scottish Cup match.

In Europe

Team

Team

  Mighty Baroll

• Champion of Liberia: 1985/86
• Liberia Cup Winner: 1986

  Invincible Eleven

• Champion of Liberia: 1986/87

  Monaco

• French Cup Winner: 1991

  Paris Saint-Germain

• Champion of France : 1993/94
• French Cup Winner ( 2 ): 1993, 1995
• French League Cup Winner: 1995

  Milan

• Champion of Italy ( 2 ): 1995/96, 1998/99

  Chelsea

• FA Cup Winner : 2000

Personal

• Golden Ball Winner (France Football) : 1995
• Soccer Player of the Year in Europe (Onze d'Or) : 1995
• FIFA Player of the Year : 1995
• African Footballer of the Year ( 3 ): 1989, 1994, 1995
• BBC African Athlete of the Year : 1995
• Champions League top scorer: 1994/95 (7 goals)
• Included in the symbolic European team according to ESM : 1996
• Included in the FIFA 100 list
• Golden Foot : 2005 (in the "Football Legends" nomination)
• Included in the list of the greatest football players of the XX century according to World Soccer
• Entered into the fame hall of the club " Milan "

• Player profile and statistics, www.liberiansoccer.com
• Biography on the UNICEF website
• Photos of Weah on sporting-heroes.net: Chelsea, 2000 ; Manchester City 2000
• Lonely star. Igor Goldes, a story from the series “100 Legends of World Football”, 2003.
• Golden African (inaccessible link)
• George Weah: Life After Football - Albert Arzumanyan