Sports

News

Business

Entertainment

GhanaWeb TV

Africa

Opinions

Country

Liberia President-elect George Weah to attend CAF awards in Ghana

George Weah Prez George Weah won the African Best Player in 1995

Wed, 3 Jan 2018 Source: ghanaguardian.com

Ghana will be the first country George Weah will visit since his election as the President of Liberia as he will travel to Accra today to attend the AITEO CAF Awards 2017, Ghanaguardian.com can exclusively reveal.

Weah is expected to arrive at the Kotoka International Airport by midday to attend Thursday's event to honour top African footballers for their performances for last year.

Aides close to Mr. Weah have told Ghana's leading news website www.ghanaguardian.com that the in-coming Liberia President is coming to Accra at the invitation of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The revelation comes just few days after Ghanaguardian.com became the first news organisation in the world to announce the outcome of the result in the Liberia election - a massive three days before the country's elections body announced the result.

With all ballots from Tuesday's run-off vote counted, Mr Weah finished well ahead of opponent Joseph Boakai with more than 60% of the vote.

He will succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, in Liberia's first democratic handover in decades.

The revelation of Mr Weah's arrival in Accra cements the thoughts that Ghana contributed immensely to the peaceful elections in Liberia which resulted in the victory of the former football superstar.

CAF has invited Mr Weah as part of the new move by the continental body's leader Ahmad Ahmad to give more recognition to respect to football legends.

Several football legends will be attending Thursday's event at the Accra International Conference Centre but Weah was long invited to receive an award an an outstanding legend and an ambassador for the game.

Mr Weah, who was raised in a slum in Liberia's capital Monrovia, starred at top-flight European football clubs Paris St-Germain (PSG) and AC Milan, before ending his career in England with brief stays at Chelsea and Manchester City.

He is the only African footballer to have won both Fifa World Player of the Year and the prestigious Ballon D'Or.

Africa will crown its best soccer player on Thursday but the electors have a tough choice in deciding between the three candidates for the 2017 African Footballer of the Year award.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Borussia Dortmund and Gabon goes up against Liverpool’s Senegalese Sadio Mane and Egyptian Mohamed Salah with none of the final three candidates having a defining achievement over the last 12 months to set them apart.

The winner will be announced at the annual Confederation of African Football awards being hosted in Accra, Ghana.

Source: ghanaguardian.com