Phone repairer being a child
After starting as a goalkeeper in a small club in the suburbs of Monrovia, George Weah finds himself at the center forward position in a Cameroonian club. In 1988, then aged 22, the young footballer is spotted by the French Arsène Wenger, coach at the time of AS Monaco . The same year, he flies to the Principality.
Committed to the humanitarian
Meanwhile, in Liberia, an atrocious civil war ravaged the country from 1989 to 2003. George Weah was absent from the conflict, which killed some 250,000 people while he was leading his brilliant career in Europe. “I never heard a single Liberian criticize Weah for that,” said Hassan Bility, a human rights activist , for them it was the only positive thing that Liberia had at that time: a success story that gave a brilliant image, for once, of the country. “
From France, he is involved in humanitarian work. The player then pleads for peace in Liberia, calling on the UN to save his country. In retaliation, rebels burn his home in Monrovia and take hostage two of his cousins.
In the time of Charles Taylor, the former militia leader became president, the star of the round ball “swear not to return to the country while he is president,” says one of his relatives. While living in the United States, installed with family in Miami where he built a house with his fortune, “relatives came to the view and asked him to present the 2005 elections” , says Bility. “He was the only one, because of his absence, not to have been involved in the war, he was the neutral candidate , “ the activist said.
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