Abedi Pele

Personal information
Full name	Abedi Ayew
Date of birth	(1964-11-05) 5 November 1964 (age 47)
Place of birth	Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Youth career
197?–1978	Great Falcons
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1982	Real Tamale United	46	(21)
1982–1983	Al Sadd	8	(7)
1983–1984	Zürich	18	(9)
1984	Dragons l'Ouémé	8	(11)
1985	Real Tamale United	19	(7)
1986–1987	Niort	32	(14)
1987	Mulhouse	16	(5)
1987–1989	Marseille	9	(0)
1988–1990	Lille	61	(16)
1990–1993	Marseille	103	(23)
1993–1994	Lyon	29	(3)
1994–1996	Torino	49	(11)
1996–1998	1860 Munich	50	(2)
1998–2000	Al Ain	31	(28)
Total		479	(157)
National team
1982–1998	Ghana	67	(33[1])
Teams managed
2004–	Nania F.C. (Head Coach and President)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Abedi Ayew ( /æˈbeɪdɪ/  /æˈjjuː/ a-BAYDI a-YEW), known professionally as Abedi Pele (born 5 November 1964) is a former Ghana International football player and captain. Having been given the nickname "Pelé" in recognition of his superior ability that evoked comparisons to Brazilian great Pelé, he found fame in France's Ligue 1 with Lille OSC and Olympique Marseille.

Three of his sons, Ibrahim, André and Jordan also became Internationals for Ghana, in which Ibrahim and André were selected for the FIFA World Cup 2010.

Early life[link]

Abedi Ayew was born into a family in a small village called Kyebi near Dome at the northern outskirts of Accra.^[2]

Playing career[link]

Abedi Pele was one of the pioneers of African football in Europe. One of the first great African players to make an impact on European club football, he played for teams in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and most famously France where he was very instrumental in Marseille's prominence in the European Champions League during the early 1990s. Amongst his international accolades, he was often included in FIFA "All-star" selections and captained the African all-stars in their victory over their European counterparts in the Meridian Cup of 1997.

He left Ghana for Qatar after the 1982 African Cup of Nations. After a short spell with F.C. Zürich in Switzerland he returned to Ghana but, after both Kotoko and Hearts of Oak failed to sign him, joined AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé of Benin. He would later return to Ghana and play for Real Tamale United for a season. He started his European career in France with Chamois Niort, then Montpellier and Lille, before he moved to Olympique Marseille. He later joined Lyon. He also played for Torino of Italy, where he won the Best Foreign Player in Serie A, before finishing his European sojourn with 1860 Munich.

Abedi Pele went on to sign a 2 year contract with Al Ain Club in the United Arab Emirates and was nominated as one of the best foreign players to play in the UAE league.

He was the captain of Ghana's national football team for 6 years (1992–1998) and was one of the first African football players to finish highly in FIFA World Player of the Year lists in 1991 and 1992. He is arguably Africa's most decorated and honored football player ever, winning the France Football Magazine African player of the year award 3 times, the BBC sports person of the year, and the Confederation of African Football version twice. He was also awarded the golden ball award for being the best player at the 1992 African Cup of Nations, and was the "man of the match" in Marseille's historic European Champions League final win over Milan in 1993.

Abedi Pele played for Ghana 73 times and is considered the greatest football player in his country's history, and among the best in Africa. He is the top goal scorer for Ghana's Black Stars in its 50 year footballing history with 33 goals. He was a fixture in the African Championships of the 1980s and 90s with his national team, and a member of Ghana's victorious team in the 1982 African Cup of Nations, but he never had an opportunity to play in the FIFA World Cup, as the Black Stars failed to qualify for the competition during his career. However, he was arguably the most dominant figure on the African football scene for nearly a decade. His performance in the 1992 African Cup of Nations is often cited as one of the most outstanding football displays by any player in a single tournament. His native Ghana reached the finals of the Cup that year, only to lose on penalties in the final to Ivory Coast after Abedi was suspended because of a Yellow card he received in the Semi-final match against Nigeria. Prior to that, his 3 spectacular goals against Zambia, Congo and Nigeria proved crucial in putting Ghana through to their 7th appearance in a CAN final - and their first final in 10 years. The performance earned him the added nickname of "The African Maradona". His solo run goal against Congo in the quarter finals is often compared to Maradona's 2nd against England in the 1986 world cup. His backheader goal against Nigeria from the edge of the opponent's penalty box also heralded international acclaim.

Abedi holds the record for most appearances at the Nations Cup Finals, beating even the legendary Roger Milla of Cameroon to the record. He made his first appearance at the 13th Nations Cup Finals in Libya in 1982 and for the next 16 years (ending at the 21st Finals in Burkina Faso) continued to grace the most prestigious football tournament on the continent, first as a member of Ghana's squad rising to become captain in 1991. Aside from his acclaimed exploits at the 1992 competition, Abedi also earned much acclaim for his 3 goals at the 1996 competition - where he led Ghana to the semi finals of the competition despite critics expecting him to be in the twilight of his career.

At the club level, he was a key figure in Olympique de Marseille's dominance of the French league - resulting in 4 league championships and 2 European Champions League finals appearances. An attacking midfielder, Abedi became as famous for his sublime dribbling skills as well as a talent for scoring spectacular and often very important goals. Many such goals became regular "Goals of the Week" on ITN's weekly "European Football" program. At Marseille, he was a member of the team's "Magical Trio", along with Jean Pierre Papin and Chris Waddle - spearheading perhaps Europe's strongest league side of the early 1990s. Abedi was the only remaining member of the trio still with the side when Marseille defeated Milan in the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final in Munich.

Ayew has the singular honour of participating in more FIFA organized charity matches than any other African player. He is very popular in many African countries, especially the French-speaking countries because of his exploits in France. In countries such as Nigeria and South Africa, football fans still wear T-shirts bearing his name. He has become one of the continent’s most respected and important ambassadors. Abedi Pele is a member of FIFA’s Football Committee, and of the player status committees of both FIFA and CAF. That explains why the South African FA made him a Spokesperson for their 2006 World Cup bid. Abedi is considered one of the best players in World History to not appear at the FIFA World Cup, and perhaps the greatest African football player ever.

In appreciation of Abedi's devout services to the country, the Ghanaian government awarded him the country's highest honour, the Order of the Volta (civil division). He thus becomes the first Ghanaian sportsman to be so honoured.

On 29 January 1997, the first UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup All-Star Match between Europe and Africa was played in S.L. Benfica’s Estádio da Luz in Lisbon Portugal and was televised in 100 countries worldwide, including 30 in Africa, for a 60 million audience. Former Olympique de Marseille midfielder Abedi Pele was on target with a stunning goal early in the first half and, after Vincent Guérin had equalised for Europe just before half-time, it was the 1998 African Player of the Year, Mustapha Hadji, who struck Africa’s 78th-minute winner in the 2-1 win.^[3]

After retirement[link]

CAF-UEFA All Star

In 2001, the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup All-Star Match format was changed slightly for the second All-Star Match to bring together great players aged between 35 and 45 who now revel in their ‘veteran’ status and play the game purely for pleasure. The squad sparked off memories of great footballing moments at club and international level^[3]

Football Ambassador

In June 2001 he was nominated by the present government of Ghana to serve as the next Chairman of the FA, an opportunity he later gave up for a more experienced former coach of Ghana for which in his own words said that this was to be an opportunity to learn from his superiors.

At present he owns a second division club, called Nania F.C., with the future hopes of nurturing the young talent to augment the fledging league of the country. He has also been involved with various Charity work across the Continent.

Controversy

He was recently embroiled in a serious alleged Second Division Promotion Play-off bribery scandal^[4] for which the Football Association found him and others guilty. The guilty verdict attracted fines and suspensions of Abedi and others, but these have been quashed by the Appeals Committee of the Football Association after determining that there were irregularities in the initial judgement^[5] of the Ghana Football Association. The allegations stem from an astonishing 31-0 victory recorded by his club, Nania FC over a much respected Okwawu United side. A similarly farcical 28-0 result was recorded in another second division match played between Great Mariners and Tudu Mighty Jets on the same weekend. The clubs involved in that Second Division Promotion Play-off Zone III match were also investigated and subject to the prospect of stiff penalties and demotions. Despite his vehement denials,^[4] Abedi had been chastised by some members of the Ghanaian media, who were demanding that strong punitive actions be taken against him, by Ghana's football governing body as well as the legal system.^[6] His wife Maha Ayew was on 3 November 2008 banned from football against this Manipulations Scandal.^[7]

He currently features in the EA Sports FIFA 06, FIFA 07, FIFA 08, FIFA 10, FIFA 11 and FIFA 12 video game as a star of their Classic Eleven team.^[8]

Club career (Domestic league)[link]

^[9]

Major Honors and awards[link]

Club

Olympique de Marseille

• UEFA Champions League with Olympique de Marseille Winner: 1993 [2]
• European Cup with Olympique de Marseille Finalist medal: 1991
• French Ligue 1 with Olympique de Marseille Winner: 1990/1991, 1991/1992, 1992/1993 (revoked)

Al-Sadd

• Prince of Qatar Cup with Al-Sadd Winner: 1983

Al Ain Club

• Emir's Cup with Al Ain Club 1998/99^[10]

International[link]

Ghana

• African Cup of Nations Winner 1982
• African Cup of Nations Finalist Medal 1992
• West African Nations Cup - SCSA Zone III Winner 1982, 1983, 1984
• 1996 African Cup of Nations 4th Place

Individual

• FIFA 100
• "Order of the Volta" (Civil division) – Highest Ghana National award
• African Footballer of the Year Winner: 1991, 1992, 1993
• FIFA World Player of the Year: 9th 1992, Nomination 1991
• African Player of the Century by IFFHS^[11] 3rd Best
• Top 30 African Footballers in the last 50 years(2007)^[12] 5th Place
• African Footballer of the Year Nominations: 85,86,87,88,89,90
• Italian Serie A Best Foreign Player Winner: 1995/96
• Fifa All-Star Forward: 1992,1993,1996,1997,1999 [3]
• 1992 African Nations Cup Player of the Tournament: Golden Ball Winner
• BBC African Player of the Year Winner: 3 Times
• African Cup of Nations Appearances: 5 Times - 1982,1992, 1994,1996,1998
• Ghana SWAG Best Colts (Young) Player Winner: 1978
• Most Capped Ghana Player of All-Time: 73 International Caps^[3] & 33 Goals
• On March 26, 2004, he was appointed a "(WAFUNIF) Special Envoy 4 Peace and Development"^[13]
• Ghana Footballer of the Year – Number of wins unknown?

Personal[link]

Abedi is the brother of Kwame and Sola Ayew (ex-Hearts of Oak and Black Meteors). He is also the father of André, Jordan, Rahim, Imani and is married with Maha. Two of his children Andre and Rahim represented Ghana in the FIFA 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

• Biography
• career stats
• News on Abedi Pele

Ghana squads v t e Ghana squad – 1992 Africa Cup of Nations Runners-up GK E. Ansah GK S. Ansah GK Damba DF Ampeah DF Ankrah DF Aramh DF Appiah DF Asare DF Baffoe DF Frimpong Manso MF Aborah MF Gargo MF Opoku Nti MF Lamptey MF Abedi Pele FW Abrey FW Gyamfi FW Ibrahim FW Naawu FW Preko FW Polley FW Yeboah Coach: Pfister v t e Ghana squad – 1994 Africa Cup of Nations GK Addo GK Ansah GK Mensah DF Ampeah DF Amankwah DF Aramh DF Baffoe DF Dodoo DF Duah DF Frimpong Manso DF Opoku DF Whyte MF Akonnor MF Lamptey MF Johnson MF Laud MF Abedi Pele MF Yaw FW Arthur FW Ayew FW Polley FW Yeboah Coach: Aggrey-Finn v t e Ghana squad – 1996 Africa Cup of Nations Fourth Place GK S. Addo GK Kingson GK Nanbanyin DF J. Addo DF Amankwah DF Asare DF Baidoo DF Dodoo DF Johnson DF Kuffour MF D. Addo MF Akonnor MF Kumah MF Lamptey MF Abedi Pele MF Yahaya MF Yaw FW Aboagye FW Ayew FW Preko FW Tanko FW Yeboah Coach: Kurtz v t e Ghana squad – 1998 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Kingson 2 Edusei 3 Owusu-Ansah 4 S. Kuffour 5 E. Addo 6 Gargo 7 Allotey 8 Nyarko 9 Tetteh 10 Abedi Pele 11 Akonnor 12 Ofori-Quaye 13 E. Kuffour 14 Agyeman-Duah 15 Johnson 16 S. Addo 17 Aboagye 18 Kumah 19 Bastios 20 Ackon 21 Moses 22 Mantey Coach: Israel

Christopher Roland "Chris" Waddle (born 14 December 1960 in Felling, Tyne and Wear) is a former footballer from England. During his professional career he played for clubs including Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday in England, and Olympique de Marseille in France. Waddle earnt 62 caps for the England national football team between 1985 and 1991, and was a member of England's squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, where he missed a penalty in England's shoot-out defeat to Germany in the semi-finals.

Waddle currently works as a co-commentator for ESPN's Premier League football coverage, and for BBC 5 Live.

Playing career[link]

Early career[link]

Waddle began his footballing career with Pelaw Juniors, moving on to Whitehouse SC, Mount Pleasant SC, HMH Printing, Pelaw SC, Leam Lane SC and Clarke Chapman before joining Tow Law Town before the start of the 1978-79 season. He worked during the day at Skipton Financial Services.^{[citation needed]}

Newcastle United[link]

While working in food processing, Waddle had unsuccessful trials with Sunderland^[2] and Coventry City. He joined Newcastle United in July 1980 for £1,000.

He made his Second Division debut for them in a 1–0 home win over Shrewsbury Town on 22 October 1980 and quickly established himself as an effective attacking midfielder, playing alongside Kevin Keegan and Peter Beardsley as Newcastle won promotion to the First Division at the end of 1983–84 season.

In one of his first games in the top flight, against Queen's Park Rangers at Loftus Road on 22 September 1984, Waddle scored a first half hat-trick for Newcastle, who had a 4-0 lead at half time. However, a fight back by QPR saw the game end 5-5.^[3]

He was called up for the England Under-21 side and made his full squad debut against Ireland in March 1985.

Tottenham Hotspur[link]

After 46 goals in 170 games for Newcastle, Waddle joined Tottenham Hotspur on 1 July 1985 for a fee of £590,000. He scored twice on his league debut, a 4–0 home win over Watford on the opening day of the league season.

At Tottenham he established himself as a regular in the England team, playing in the side that reached the quarter finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico linking up again with Beardsley. After the World Cup he enjoyed his most productive season. He won an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1987 when Spurs were beaten by Coventry, while they also finished third in the League and got to the semi-finals of the League Cup. In the same year, Waddle found himself in the pop charts, with the single "Diamond Lights" making the UK Top 20 in a duet with Spurs and England team-mate Glenn Hoddle. In 1988, he was in the England team which lost all three group games in the European Championships.

Due to the ban on English clubs in European competitions following the Heysel disaster of 1985, there was talk that Waddle would transfer to a team outside of the country.[5]

Olympique de Marseille[link]

On 1 July 1989, after scoring 33 times in 138 appearances for Tottenham, Waddle moved to French club Olympique de Marseille for a fee of £4.5 million. During his time in France the club were French champions three times (1990, 1991 and 1992).

Waddle started six games for England in their run to the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In the semi-final against West Germany, he hit the post in extra time when the teams were drawing 1–1. However, his final contribution to the game was missing a penalty in the shoot-out, hitting the ball over the bar and sending the Germans through to the final. He subsequently blamed a chance meeting with Uri Geller and Michael Jackson prior to the tournament for missing his penalty. It has been reported that Geller's parting words to Waddle were 'the higher you go, the harder you fall.' He started as a substitute in the third-place play off with Italy which England lost 2-1.

During his years at Marseille, the fans gave him the nickname : "Magic Chris" as he would watch magician Paul Daniels on VHS to combat homesickness. He was known as the successor of former Marseille player Roger Magnusson. Waddle was also voted second best OM player of the century behind Jean Pierre Papin for the club's century anniversary in 1998. Whilst at the club he again tried a pop music career, joining team mate Basile Boli in recording a song entitled We've Got a Feeling.^[4]

Sheffield Wednesday[link]

Waddle returned to England in July 1992 in a £1.25 million move to Sheffield Wednesday, then managed by Trevor Francis. The club reached both domestic cup finals in the 1992–93 season (losing both to Arsenal – Waddle scored Wednesday's goal in the FA Cup final replay) and Waddle was voted the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1993.

Despite his form he earned just one international cap under the manager Graham Taylor.

In January 1996, Kevin Keegan attempted to re-sign Waddle for Newcastle United as cover for David Ginola during a suspension, but Keegan's £500,000 bid to re-sign the player who had played alongside him in the Newcastle team more than a decade earlier was rejected and Keegan was unwilling to meet manager David Pleat's £1million asking price for the 35-year-old.^[5] Around this time, Celtic and Leeds United at Sunderland were also interested in signing Waddle, but none of these transfers ever happened.^[6]Burnley also expressed an interest in appointing him as their player-manager - a role he would finally take the following year - but Waddle saw out the season at Hillsborough.^[7]

Waddle's later career at Hillsborough was marred by injuries and he was released 5 games into the 1996–97 season (when the Owls were top of the premiership and having taken young sensation Ritchie Humphreys – 4 goals in 5 games – under his wing) after being frozen out of the team by David Pleat, having played 109 games and scored 10 goals with many more assists.

Falkirk and Bradford City[link]

He joined Falkirk in September 1996 but joined Bradford City the following month. With Bradford City, he scored a goal in the FA Cup against Everton which came second in the February 1997 Match of the Day Goal of the Month.

Sunderland[link]

He moved to Sunderland, the side he had supported as a boy, for a nominal fee of £75,000 in March 1997, but could not help Sunderland from being relegated at the end of the season, despite scoring once against Everton.^[8]

Burnley[link]

In May 1997 he was appointed player-manager of Burnley, moving from Roker Park on a free transfer. Burnley had a disappointing season, only just avoiding relegation at the end of the season. He scored once during his spell at Burnley, the goal coming in a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth in October 1997.^[9]

Torquay United[link]

Waddle left Burnley in the summer, and in September 1998 joined Torquay United. He played just 7 times for Torquay, before taking up a coaching job with Sheffield Wednesday. He was appointed reserve team coach in July 1999, and played for a local pub side, but left in June 2000 on the appointment of Paul Jewell as manager.

Non-league career[link]

Following his departure from Torquay United, Waddle enjoyed two seasons with Worksop Town making 60 appearances and scoring 3 goals. His most notable appearance was in a 12–0 Northern Premier League record win against Frickley Athletic. He also had a brief spell with Glapwell and one appearance for Stocksbridge Park Steels in the Northern Premier League First Division.

Post-football career[link]

	Waddle pronunciation Audio pronunciation of Chris Waddle's surname
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Waddle appeared on BBC Radio Five Live as a summariser at Premier League matches and also writes a column in The Sun newspaper.

In 1987 Waddle reached No.12 in the UK charts with Glenn Hoddle, on the song Diamond Lights.

In 2005 he was charged with attacking a man in a pub in Dore, Sheffield,^[10] however the charge was dropped for insufficient evidence.

Waddle signed a deal with Setanta Sports to commentate on all England away matches in 2008–09. Setanta's British division then went into administration and ceased broadcasting in June 2008, and as of August 2009^[update] Waddle co-commentates for ESPN's English Premier League football coverage^[11]

His cousin, Alan Waddle, played league football for Halifax Town, Liverpool, Leicester City, Swansea City, Newport County, Mansfield Town, Hartlepool United and Peterborough United.

In 2003 Thierry Henry named Waddle in his all-time Dream Team Line up.^[12]

Following England's heavy defeat to Germany in the second round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Waddle criticised the English Football Association, claiming: "The FA sit on their backsides and do nothing tournament after tournament after tournament. Why don't they listen? Why don't they look at other countries and ask 'how do they keep producing talent?' We coach talent out of players ... We lack so many ideas and it is so frustrating. The amount of money in our league is frightening and all we do is waste it on rubbish ideas ... We kid ourselves thinking we have a chance if we keep the tempo up. We can only play one way and it is poor. You can't go on playing football and hoping to win trophies playing a hundred miles an hour and putting teams under pressure for 90 minutes. You've got to be able to play slow, slow, quick and we can't do it."^[13]

Personal life[link]

Waddle has one daughter, Brooke, and a son, Jack. On 29 April 2012, Jack was given a one-year first-team contract at Chesterfield F.C..^[14]