1. George Manneh Oppong Weah was born on 1 October 1966 and is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024.
69 Facts About George Weah
1. 2.
George Weah played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career which ended in 2003.
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George Weah is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state, and the only African Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in history, winning both awards in 1995.
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George Weah won the African Footballer of the Year 3 times and is considered one of the greatest strikers ever.
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George Weah signed for AC Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, winning the Serie A twice.
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George Weah ended his career with Al Jazira in 2003.
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George Weah represented Liberia at the international level, winning 75 caps, scoring 18 goals for his country, and playing at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions.
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George Weah played in a friendly in 2018, where his number 14 jersey was retired.
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Widely regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time, George Weah was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or in 1995, becoming the first and only player to win these awards while representing an African country internationally.
10.
George Weah became involved in politics in Liberia following his retirement from football.
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George Weah formed the Congress for Democratic Change and ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting.
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George Weah was elected to the Senate of Liberia for Montserrado County in the 2014 election.
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George Weah was elected President of Liberia in the 2017 election, defeating the incumbent vice president Joseph Boakai, and was sworn in on 22 January 2018.
14.
George Weah was defeated in a rematch with Boakai in the 2023 election.
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George Manneh Oppong Weah was born on 1 October 1966 in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, and was raised in Clara Town, a slum in the city.
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George Weah is a member of the Kru ethnic group, which hails from south-eastern part of Liberia, one of the poorest areas of the country.
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George Weah was one of thirteen children largely raised by his devoutly Christian paternal grandmother, Emma Klonjlaleh Brown after his parents separated when Weah was still a baby.
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George Weah attended middle school at Muslim Congress and high school at Wells Hairston High School and reportedly dropped out in his final year of studies.
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George Weah began to play football for Young Survivors, a club based in Clara Town, in 1981 at the age of 15.
20.
Jason Burke, writing for The Observer, described how George Weah scored "two spectacular goals" on his debut, "one hit from such a tight angle that it went in-off having struck both posts".
21.
George Weah signed for Liberian Premier League club Bong Range United in 1984, where he played for one season, before joining Mighty Barrolle, one of the biggest clubs in Liberia.
22.
George Weah was not a regular starter for Mighty Barrolle despite scoring regularly, which prompted a move to their rivals, Invincible Eleven, in 1986.
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George Weah helped the club win the 1987 Liberian Premier League title, was the league's top scorer, and was named as the league's player of the season.
24.
George Weah signed for Cameroonian Premier League club Tonnerre Yaounde in 1987 after impressing during a match against them, and scored twice on his debut against Canon Yaounde.
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George Weah's abilities were noticed by the Cameroon national team manager, Claude Le Roy, who recommended him to Arsene Wenger, the manager of French Division 1 club Monaco.
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George Weah has credited Wenger as an important influence on his career.
27.
George Weah joined AC Milan in 1995, winning the Italian league in 1996 under Fabio Capello.
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George Weah finished by rifling the ball into the bottom left corner before an exuberant goal celebration.
29.
George Weah dedicated his FIFA World Player of the Year victory to his former manager, Arsene Wenger, stating that it was thanks to him that he was able to develop into a world-class player.
30.
That year, George Weah won the African Player of the Year Award for the third time in his career, and was named to the Onze de Onze by the French football magazine Onze Mondial.
31.
In 1996, George Weah finished second in the FIFA World Player of the Year ranking; he was the recipient of the FIFA Fair Play Award, and was voted the African Player of the Century by sport journalists from around the world.
32.
On 20 November 1996, after Milan's Champions League draw at Porto, George Weah broke the nose of Portuguese defender Jorge Costa in the players' tunnel, resulting in a six-match European ban.
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George Weah said he exploded in frustration after putting up with racist tauntings from Costa during both of the team's Champions League matches that autumn.
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George Weah later attempted to apologise to Costa but this was rebuffed by the Portuguese, who considered the charges of racist insults levelled against him to be defamatory and took George Weah to court.
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George Weah played 11 games in all competitions for City, scoring four times, before leaving on 16 October 2000 after becoming dissatisfied with manager Joe Royle for selecting him as a substitute too frequently; he had only played the full 90 minutes in three of his 11 games for the Maine Road club.
36.
George Weah later played with Al Jazira in the UAE Football League, where he remained until his retirement as a player in 2003, at age 37.
37.
Since making his debut for the Liberia national team against Burkina Faso on 23 February 1986, George Weah played 75 games, scoring 18 goals.
38.
However, he did help Liberia to qualify for the African Cup of Nations on two occasions: George Weah represented his country in the 1996 and 2002 editions of the tournament, although Liberia failed to make it out of their group both times, suffering first-round eliminations.
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George Weah has been named by several media outlets as one of the best players to never play at the World Cup.
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One of the greatest African players of all time, George Weah was, like his namesake George Best before him, hamstrung in World Cup terms by hailing from a global minnow.
41.
George Weah returned to the national team for a specially arranged friendly against Nigeria on 11 September 2018, his final international appearance, playing at the age of 51 while in office as the country's president.
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George Weah was lauded for his speed, work rate, stamina, and attacking instincts, as well as his physical and athletic attributes, which he combined with his finishing, technical ability, and creativity.
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George Weah is often hailed as one of the greatest African footballers of all time, being named African Player of the Century in 1996, and often ranked among the three greatest African strikers ever, alongside Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o.
44.
At the 2004 ESPY Awards at the Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, George Weah won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for his efforts.
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George Weah has been named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, a role which he has suspended in his political career.
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George Weah has tried to use football as a way to bring happiness and promote education for children in Liberia.
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In 1998, George Weah launched a CD called Lively Up Africa featuring the singer Frisbie Omo Isibor and eight other African football stars.
48.
George Weah was President of Junior Professional, a former football club he founded in Monrovia in 1994.
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George Weah was actively involved with youth programs in a Liberian enclave on Staten Island, New York, when he resided there for a time.
50.
George Weah alleged that the election had been rigged through voter intimidation and ballot tampering, and many of his supporters protested the results in the streets of Monrovia.
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George Weah then pursued a degree in business administration at DeVry University in Miami.
52.
George Weah remained active in Liberian politics, returning from the United States in 2009 to successfully campaign for the Congress for Democratic Change candidate in the Montserrado County senatorial by-election.
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Some analysts saw these moves as preparation for a repeat run for the presidency in 2011, and George Weah did indeed later announce his intention to challenge Sirleaf in the 2011 election.
54.
George Weah was elected to the Liberian Senate on 20 December 2014.
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George Weah defeated Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Sirleaf, becoming the first Liberian international athlete elected to represent a county in the legislature.
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George Weah was sworn in as president on 22 January 2018, making him the fourth youngest-serving president in Africa, marking Liberia's first democratic transition in 74 years.
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George Weah cited fighting corruption, reforming the economy, combating illiteracy and improving life conditions as the main targets of his presidency.
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In September 2019, George Weah attended the National Economic Dialogue, seeking solutions amidst Liberia's economic crisis.
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George Weah urged Liberians to use the Dialogue as a national platform to craft strategies and offer workable solutions for the crisis.
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On 29 January 2018, George Weah announced he would seek constitutional changes to allow people of different ethnic descent to be citizens and allow foreigners to own land.
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George Weah further announced a 2 million dollar emergency fund, part of which was used to purchase DNA-testing equipment for forensic identification of perpetrators.
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George Weah signed a drug bill into law which passed by the legislature after months.
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George Weah's administration invested into health infrastructure and medical equipment He deployed doctors to many underserved areas of the country.
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On 21 February 2018, George Weah made his first official visit outside Africa, to France, meeting French president Emmanuel Macron.
65.
George Weah made a visit to China to congratulate Xi Jinping on his re-election.
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President George Weah said he looked forward to further cementing the strong ties that exist between both countries since establishment between both nations.
67.
On 15 August 2022, three senior members of George Weah's cabinet were sanctioned by the United States for alleged corruption.
68.
George Weah has a less notable cousin called Stephen Weah, who played as a footballer for Preston Lions FC of Melbourne, Australia.
69.
George Weah practiced Islam for ten years before converting to Christianity.