Butiama Bed & Breakfast

Butiama Bed & Breakfast

Wednesday 27 December 2017

Former soccer player George Weah has won Liberian elections

Former soccer player George Weah has won Liberia's elections, held on 26th December 2017.

When I wrote about his possible political ambitions in 2008 it appeared to me that he placed a higher priority on his soccer career.

George Tawlon Manneh Opong Ousman Weah is 51 years old and was FIFA Footballer of the Year in 1995. He also won the Ballon d'Or and was the first African to win these two prestigious awards.

In 1999 soccer legend Pele named him in FIFA's list of 100 world's greatest living players.

Some of the teams he played for include Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, Milan, and Manchester City.

In politics, he ran against and lost to outgoing president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005. He was elected to the Liberian Senate in 2014.

If he still occasionally puts on his soccer boots, he would be the second African soccer playing president, after Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza.