Abédi Pelé
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| Abédi Pelé | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Abédi Ayew | |
| Date of birth | November 5, 1964 | |
| Place of birth | Domé, Ghana | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 197?–1978 | Great Falcons | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1978–1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–1987 1987 1987–1989 1989–1990 1991–1993 1993–1994 1994–1996 1996–1998 1998–2000 |
Real Tamale United Al Sadd AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé Real Tamale United Chamois Niort FC FC Mulhouse Marseille Lille Marseille Lyon Torino 1860 Munich Al Ain |
50 (2) 50 (2) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1981–1998 | Ghana | 73[1] (33) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Abédi Ayew, also known as Abédi "Pelé" (born November 5, 1964) is a former Ghana International football player and captain. He was named African Footballer of the Year in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Additionally, Pelé named him as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He is brother of Kwame Ayew and father of Andre Ayew.
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[edit] Early life
Abédi Pelé was born into a family in a small village called Oko near Domé at the northern outskirts of Accra.[2] He had his basic education at Dome Anglican Primary School. He had to help his mother work at the Achimota Quarry and sometimes sell charcoal as well due to the family's poverty. Abédi was spotted while playing football for his school team and introduced to "colts"[3] football in the city. He played for the Great Falcons youth club and won the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) 'Best Colts Player' award in 1978. That same year, he started his secondary education at the Ghana Secondary School, Tamale, on scholarship. He also started playing for his first senior team, Real Tamale United in the domestic league.[2]
[edit] Playing career
Abédi Pelé 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 after the '82 African Cup for Qatar. After a short spell with F.C. Zurich in Switzerland he returned to Ghana but, after both Kotoko and Hearts of Oak failed to signed 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.
Abédi Pelé went on to sign a 2 year contract with Al Ain FC 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 soccer team for 6 years (1992–1998) and was one of the first African soccer players to finish highly in <a href="/wiki/FIFA_World_Player_of_the_Year" title="FIFA World Play