Abedi Ayew ( ; born 5 November 1964), known professionally as Abedi Pele, is a Ghanaian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Ghana national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest African footballers of all time. He played for several European clubs and found his fame in the French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

with

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. At the latter, he won the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, among other titles. He was also the first to win the CAF award in 1992.

Early life

Abedi Ayew was born into a family in the town of Kibi and grew up in the town of

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

at the northern outskirts of the city

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

. He attended Ghana Senior High School in Tamale. He was given the nickname "Pelé" due to his ability in football, which evoked comparisons to the late Brazilian athlete

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

Club career

Abedi Pele was one of the first African players to make an impact on European club football. His nomadic career began with Real Tamale United in Ghana in 1978. He left Ghana after the 1982

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

to join Al Sadd in Qatar for a $1,000 transfer fee. After a short spell with

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

, he returned to Ghana but, after both Kotoko and Hearts of Oak failed to sign him, joined

AS Dragons FC de l'Ouémé The Association Sportive Dragons FC de l'Ouémé, known as Dragons de l'Ouémé, is a Beninese professional football (soccer), football club based in the town of Porto-Novo. They play in the Beninese first division, the Benin Premier League. Ach ...

in Benin. He would later return to Ghana and play for Real Tamale United for one season. He began his career in Europe with French side Chamois Niort, subsequently joining

before transferring to

on loan. At club level, he was a key figure in Marseille's dominance of the French league, resulting in four league championships and two European Cup finals appearances. At Marseille, he was a member of the team's "Magical Trio" along with

Jean-Pierre Papin Jean-Pierre Roger Guillaume Papin (; born 5 November 1963) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward. He is the head coach of Championnat National 3 club Marseille B. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1991. Pa ...

and

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he h ...

, spearheading perhaps Europe's strongest league side of the early 1990s, including a European Cup final defeat in 1991. Abedi Pele was the only remaining member of the trio still with the side when Marseille defeated Milan in the 1993 Champions League final in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He later joined

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

after his loan spell at Lille. He also played for

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

of Italy and rounded out his European career with

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

. Abedi Pele signed a two-year contract with

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

in the United Arab Emirates and was nominated one of the best foreign players to play in the UAE league.

International career

Abedi Pele played for

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

73 times. 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 The 1982 African Cup of Nations was the 13th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of African nations run by the CAF. It was hosted by Libya. Just like in 1980, there were eight teams, which were split into ...

, but he never had an opportunity to play in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, 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 The 1992 African Cup of Nations was the 18th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Senegal. The field expanded to twelve teams, split into four groups of three; the top two teams in each ...

, for which he was voted the player of the tournament, was particularly notable, as he scored in three successive rounds to help Ghana reach the final, but picked up a yellow card in the semi-final against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

that meant he was suspended for the final; Ghana went on to lose on penalties to the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. The performance earned him the added nickname of "The African Maradona". Abedi Pele was one of the first African football players to earn a top placing in

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

voting, doing so in 1991 and 1992. He won the ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

'' African Player of the Year Award three consecutive years, was the inaugural winner of the BBC African Sports Star of the Year in 1992, and the corresponding

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

award twice. Abedi Pele holds the record for most appearances at the African Cup of Nations. He made his first appearance at the in Libya in 1982 and continued to compete at the tournament for the next 16 years, his last appearance coming in the 1998 edition in Burkina Faso. Aside from his exploits at the 1992 competition, he also earned much acclaim for his three 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.

After retirement

Abedi Pele has participated in more

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

organized charity matches than any other African player. He is a member of FIFA's Football Committee, and of the player status committees of both FIFA and CAF. The South African FA made him a spokesperson for their 2006 World Cup bid. In appreciation of Abedi Pele's service to the country, the Ghanaian government gave him the country's highest honour, the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

(civil division). He was 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 Benfica's

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and was televised in 100 countries worldwide, including 30 in Africa, for an audience of 60 million viewers. Abedi Pele scored a 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 Mustapha Hadji (; born 16 November 1971) is a Moroccan football coach and former player. He was named the 50th greatest African player of all time by the African football expert Ed Dove. Early life Hadji was born in Ifrane Atlas-Saghir, Morocc ...

, who struck Africa's 78th-minute winner in the 2–1 win. In 2001, the UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup All-Star Match format was changed slightly for the second All-Star Match to bring together 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.

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 first division club, called Nania, with the future hopes of nurturing the young talent to augment the fledgling league of the country. He has also been involved with charity work across the African continent.

Controversy

Abedi Pele was embroiled in a serious alleged Second Division Promotion Play-off bribery scandal for which the

Ghana Football Association The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the sports governing body, governing body of association football in Ghana, based in the capital city, Accra. Founded in 1957 to replace the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast Football Association whi ...

found him and others guilty. The guilty verdict attracted fines and suspensions of Abedi Pele and others, but these were quashed by the Appeals Committee of the Football Association after determining that there were irregularities in the initial judgement 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 Okwawu United is a Ghanaian professional Football team, football club based in Nkawkaw, Eastern Region (Ghana), Eastern Region. They are competing in the Access Bank Ghana Plc, Access Bank Division One League, Ghana, Division One League. Their hom ...

side. A similarly farcical 28–0 result was recorded in another second division match played between Great Mariners and

Tudu Mighty Jets Tudu Mighty Jets are a Ghanaian professional football club, based in Accra, Greater Accra. They are competing in the 2012–13 Poly Tank Division One League after being relegated at the end of the 2011–12 Glo Premier League season. History O ...

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, Abedi Pele 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. His wife Maha Ayew was banned from football against this manipulations scandal on 3 November 2008.

Style of play

As a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, Abedi Pele was known for his speed, close control, and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills, as well as his passing and goalscoring ability. He usually played as an

or as a forward. He was also given the nicknames the "Maestro" and "The African Maradona."

Personal life

Abedi Pele is the brother of Kwame and Sola Ayew (ex- Hearts of Oak and Black Meteors). He is also the father of

André André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Rahim Rahim (''Raḥīm'' , also anglicized as Raheem) is an Arabic word meaning "Merciful", from the root '' R-Ḥ-M.'' Al-Rahim (the Merciful) is one of the attributes of God according to Islam. It is a male given name, sometimes a hypocorism for Abdu ...

, Imani, and is married to Maha. His sons, Ibrahim,

and

, have also become internationals for Ghana. André and Rahim – represented Ghana in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa while Jordan and André represented Ghana in the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pele goal.''

Honours

Player

Marseille *

French Division 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de Football Professio ...

: 1990–91, 1991–92 *

: 1992–93; runner-up: 1990–91 Al Ain * Pro-League: 1999–2000 *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a association football, football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between Football team, clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifi ...

: 1999 Ghana *

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

; runners-up:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

West African Nations Cup The West African Nations Cup, also known as CSSA Nations Cup or "Zone 3" Championship, was a football championship held from 1982 to 1987 (not in 1985), but discontinued. Ghana won all editions, and indeed never lost a single match among the 25 th ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Individual * BBC African Footballer of the Year: 1991 *

African Footballer of the Year The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African association football, footballer each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992. Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Touré have won the award the ...

: 1991, 1992, 1993 *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Golden Ball:

Team of the Tournament:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* Ghana Footballer of the Year: 1993 * MasterCard African Team of the 20th Century: 1998 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

African Player of the Century (1901–2000): 3rd Best *

All-time Africa Men's Dream Team: 2021 *

: 9th 1992, Nomination 1991 *

All-Star Forward: 1996 (Reserve), 1997 (Reserve), 1999 *

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list compiled by Brazilian professional footballer Pelé featuring his choices of the "greatest living footballers" at the time of its release. The list was unveiled on 4 March 2004 during a gala ceremony at the Natural Histor ...

* Golden Foot Legends Award: 2011 * Ghana Football Awards Living Legend Award: 2022 * Ghana SWAG Best Colts (Young) Player: 1978 * On 26 March 2004, he was appointed a "(WAFUNIF) Special Envoy 4 Peace and Development" * CAF Top 30 African Footballers in the last 50 years: 5th place Orders * OOTV Civil Division:

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

: (1996)

Manager

Nania *

Ghanaian FA Cup The Ghana FA Cup, currently known as the MTN FA Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the annual knockout competition in Ghanaian football created in 1958, a year after the independence of Ghana. Open to all Ghanaian football clubs, the competiti ...

: 2011 * Ghana Super Cup: 2011

References

External links