Who is George Weah? The Chelsea striker who became a president

During a glittering career he played for some of Europe’s greatest teams, including Paris St Germain, AC Milan and Chelsea.

Along the way he picked up the game’s most prestigious awards. In 1995 Weah was named Fifa World Player of the Year and won the coveted Ballon d’Or – then restricted to players for European clubs – awarded by journalists.

He is the only player from his continent to have won these honours, adding the title of African Player of the Century to his impressive CV in 1996.

To this day, he remains the greatest African to have played the sport.

Weah’s goal-scoring exploits made him both a hero and a symbol of hope in the nation of his birth, while none other than Nelson Mandela once described him as “the pride of Africa”.

At the age of 51 Weah might now be expected to be enjoying a wellearned retirement from football, or perhaps doing a bit of coaching.

However today the former striker will take the next step in a remarkable life when he is inaugurated as the president of Liberia. Think David Beckham picking up the keys to Number 10.

Weah swept to power on a tide of young votes, and in a country that has often been blighted by violence there is a widespread belief that he can be a unifying force.

Yet transforming the fortunes of this west African country will not be easy.

Liberia has suffered two civil wars in the past 30 years, half the country is living in extreme poverty and it was badly hit by a deadly Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2016.

For Weah it has been a long journey to the presidential mansion in capital Monrovia.

Born less than half an hour’s drive away, in the Clara Town district, his neighbourhood – built on a former swamp – is a rubbish-strewn slum which regularly floods and fresh water is scarce.

As recently as 2009 its 75,000 residents were sharing 11 public toilets.

It was here that young George, the son of a mechanic, began kicking a ball around almost as soon as he could toddle.

He was one of 13 children raised by his grandmother Emma, after his parents separated.

Home was a wooden hut.

There was frequent unrest and when he was 14 Weah witnessed mass assassinations following a military coup.

Like many boys he dreamed of being talent-spotted on some dusty football field and escaping the ghetto but, after dropping out of school in his mid-teens, he ended up working as a technician for the national telecoms company.

But every spare minute was spent honing his ball skills. Weah recalls: “It was my passion. I worked hard, every day. I’d rather train than eat or sleep.”

Signed by the Young Survivors, in the Liberian league, he then moved to The Invincible Eleven for whom he scored 24 goals in 23 games.

In 1987, Weah’s predatory pitch instinct got him a move to Cameroon, where the soccer standard is higher, and he soon came to the attention of the national coach Claude Le Roy.

One of Le Roy’s contacts in Europe was Arsène Wenger, now the Arsenal manager but then in charge of leading continental club Monaco.

He decided to take a gamble on the raw African.

Weah still speaks highly of Wenger: “He was a father figure and regarded me as his son. This was a man, when racism was at its peak, who showed me love. One day I was tired of training and told him I had a headache.

He said: ‘George, I know it’s tough but you need to work hard. I believe that with your talent you can become one of the best players in the world’.

“So I listened and kept going. Besides God, I think that without Arsène there was no way I would have made it in Europe.”

When Weah was elected president of Liberia one of the first people he thought to invite to his swearing in ceremony was Wenger.

In his four years in Monaco Weah scored 47 goals in 103 games and next stop was France’s top team Paris St Germain, where he continued hitting the back of the net.

By now Weah was wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and indulged himself with flashy clothes and fast cars.

He became known as King George and was soon on the move again, to Italy’s AC Milan, helping his club win the league twice.

Controversy arose when he broke the nose of a rival player during a Champions League game.

Weah claimed he reacted to being racially abused but received a six-game ban. A blot on his copybook for a footballer admired for fair play.

He played briefly for Chelsea and Manchester City, both in 2000.

By the time he hung up his boots three years later aged 37 he had scored 180 goals in 403 European games, plus another 22 for his country. It is said that he also bankrolled the Liberia national team.

After retirement it seemed Weah might settle in Florida where he has a home with his wife Clar and their three children.

Clar was working in a US bank when she met her husband more than 20 years ago.

However it has emerged that Weah first began thinking about entering politics in the 90s when he met Nelson Mandela and was inspired to try to make a difference in his own country.

He has long been admired for his humanitarian work in Liberia but decided he wanted to get involved in shaping the future of Africa’s oldest republic.

He entered politics in 2005, not long after the end of a 14-year civil war, announcing his intention of becoming president.

Weah missed out on that occasion but football had taught him to persevere.

“I know a lot of people ask why an ex-footballer should seek the presidency of his country but noone asks a lawyer or a businessman why they do the same,” says Weah, who has been a member of the Senate since 2014.

“I am called to service for the love of my country and the love of my people.”

Standing for the Coalition for Democratic Change, he was elected in December, beating then vicepresident Joseph Boakai in a runoff with over 60 per cent of the vote.

In Liberia many are hailing King George as the messiah, but there are a few glum faces.

His team mates at Alpha Old Timers, in a veterans’ league in Monrovia, fear their star striker may now be just too busy running the country to turn out every Saturday.