George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah was born in Monrovia, on October 1, 1966.
He is from a very humble background and was brought up in the shanty town of Santa Clara in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.
His first clubs as a boy were Young Survivors (1981-84) and Bong Range United (1984z185).
As an adult in Liberia he played for Mighty Barrole (1985-86) winning the league and Invincible Eleven (1986-87) winning the league again with 24 goals in 23 games.
In 1987 he played briefly for Africa Sports in Ivory Coast before moving to Tonnerre Yaoundé in Cameroon, winning the league with 14 goals in 18 games. His goalscoring attracted attention in Europe and in 1988 he moved to France.
He joined Monaco in Ligue 1 and stayed four seasons. He played 149 games and scored 66 goals. "Les Rouges et Blancs" finished 3rd twice and 2nd twice and in 1991 won their 5th Coupe de France (OM 1-0). His manager for the whole period was Arsène Wenger.
In 1992 he joined Paris Saint-Germain and stayed three seasons. He played 138 games and scored 56 goals. "Les Parisiens" finished 2nd and won their 3rd Coupe de France (Nantes 3-0), 1st winning their 2nd league title and finally 3rd winning both the Coupe de France (Strasbourg 1-0) and the Coupe de la Ligue (Bastia 2-0). His managers were Artur Jorge the first two seasons and Luis Miguel Fernandez the third.
In 1995 Weah moved to Italy and Serie A, considered the best league in Europe at the time.
He signed for A.C Milan and stayed four and a half seasons. He played 147 games and scored 58 goals. The Rossoneri finished 1st, 11th, 10th and 1st, so two league titles to start and finish.
His managers were Fabio Capello (1st Scudetto), Óscar Tabárez, Arrigo Sacchi, Capello again and Alberto Zaccheroni (2nd Scudetto).
He played alongside Lazio connections: Mauro Tassotti (1978-80), Mario Ielpo (1981-84, 1985-87), Giorgio Frezzolini (1993), Alessandro Iannuzzi (1995-96, 1998-99), Demetrio Albertini (2003-04). He left in January 2000, in the middle of his fifth season. He was playing less also due to the signing of Andrij Shevchenko.
In January 2000 he signed for Chelsea on loan. He only stayed 6 months with 15 games and 5 goals but the Blues won the FA Cup (Aston Villa 1-0) while in the league they finished 5th. The manager was Gianluca Vialli and the squad included former Lazio, Roberto Di Matteo (1993-96).
In the summer of 2000 he joined Manchester City but only stayed until January. He played 9 games with 4 goals and the Citizens finished 18th and were relegated under Joe Royle. The squad included Erling Håland's father Alf-Inge.
In January 2001 Weah returned to France and signed for Olympique Marseille. Again he only stayed until January, playing 20 games with 5 goals first under Javier Clemente and then Tomislav Ivić. "Les Olympiens" finished 15th.
In 2001 Weah joined his last club Al-Jazira in the United Arab Emirates where he stayed two seasons. He played 39 games with 30 goals.
He retired at 36.
He earned 59 caps for Liberia and scored 16 goals (top scorer). In 2018 at 51 he played as captain in a friendly against Nigeria. His number 14 was then officially withdrawn and in his honour will never be worn again.
After retiring he did not go into coaching or punditry but instead went into politics and from January 2018 to January 2024 was President of Liberia.
He is considered one of the best players in African footballing history. He is 43rd in World Soccer's list of best players of the 20th Century.
He won the Ballon d'Or in 1995 (first African in history) and was voted African Player of the Year three times, 1989,1994 and 1995 and FIFA World Player in 1995. In 1994-95 he was top Champions League scorer with 7 goals.
At club level he won 6 league titles (in 4 different countries) and 5 domestic cups.
Weah was a forward. He was incredibly strong physically which combined with his speed made him difficult to stop. He was skillful and inventive but also a team player contributing assists and carrying out defensive duties.
He was considered, alongside Ronaldo and Romário, the prototype 1990s centre-forward. These were no longer goal hangers playing inside the area but forwards who could play outside the box, run at defences and take part in collective play.
At Milan he is a legend, with two league titles and 58 goals, some of them epic. His coast to coast goal against Verona in 1996 is folklore on the Rossonero side of town.
Apart from being a great player he was also a likeable person and very popular in Italy in general. He had many nicknames: Diavolo Nero (Black Devil), Re Leone (King Lion), Big George, King George and Pantera (Panther).
An interesting character. In the 1990s he converted to Islam but in 1995 returned to his christian faith following the death of his grandfather. He graduated in Art and Sports Administration in London and in 1999 was awarded an honorary doctorate in human sciences from A.M.E Zion University in Liberia.
He has three children and his two sons are both footballers. Timothy Weah has played for PSG, Celtic, Lille, Juventus and currently Olympique Marseille and holding US citizenship has earned 53 caps for USA with 7 goals.
George Weah was definitely one of the greats in the Serie A heyday of the 1990s.
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