Former Black Stars captain, Abedi Pele
Former Black Stars captain, Abedi Ayew 'Pele', took the longest sabbatical leave by any Black Stars player during his international career.
From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Abedi Pele was the name on many Ghanaians' lips as the next big thing after winning the award for best Colts player in the country within the period.
Just at age 17, he was handed a Black Stars call-up and was a member of the squad that won Ghana's last AFCON title in 1982. But, surprisingly, he put his international career on hold after just four years, citing personal problems as the reason.
He excused himself from the national team from 1986 to 1990, a period where he was just about reaching his peak.
According to Abedi, he regrets taking the long break because he believes it cost him winning more than the three Africa Best Player awards he won.
The African football great, however, admitted that he did what needed to be done to stay away from the 'politics' in the Black Stars at the time.
"I wanted it [African Footballer of the Year award] so badly, even in the '80s," Abedi told GTV Sports Plus.
"In '88 and '89, I was on fire in France, destroying everybody but I never came to play for the national team.
"I had some personal problems in the national team. From 1986-90, I never came to play for the nation. I refused coming [to play for Ghana]. You know this politics. It has its own things," he said.
He said his long absence propelled the GFA to send an unnamed executive to convince him to rescind his decision.
"They [Ghana] sent this man - I have forgotten his name - he was in Kotoko. He came to Marseille to see me and see all the executives of the team.
''So, they then told him they have allowed me [stay away from international duty]. At that time, we didn't have this Fifa rule that you have to automatically play for the national team.''
In his absence, Ghana failed to qualify for three successive AFCONs from 1986 to 1990.
His return was greater than he would have ever imagined. He led Lea Ghana to the AFCON final in 1992, won back-to-back league titles with Olympics Marseille and won the UEFA Champions League in the process, and won the African Best Player Award times in a row, achieving all from 1990 to 1993.
EE/KPE
