Former football star George Oppong Weah and Vice-President Joseph Boakai are headed for a run-off in Liberia’s presidential election.
Nearly all the results from Tuesday’s poll have been counted, the election commission says.
Mr Weah, the first and only African to win the Ballon D’Or football award, is leading with 39%, while Mr Boakai is in second place with 29%.
George Weah, 51, emerged from Liberia’s slums to become a superstar footballer in the 1990’s, and has leveraged his status as a revered figure among young people in his second run for the presidency.
Now Weah has a confirmed place in the runoff round against incumbent Vice-President Joseph Boakai on November 7, the result of 12 years spent seeking to build political credibility to match his huge popularity.
The first and only African player to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or, Weah was largely absent from Liberia during the 1989-2003 civil war period, playing for a string of top-flight European teams including PSG and AC Milan.
After running unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2005, when he was defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Weah — whom he now hopes to succeed — says he has “gained experience” since becoming a senator in 2014.
Another fruitless run for the vice-presidency on the ticket of presidential candidate Winston Tubman in 2011 brought him to further prominence among the nation’s voters, many of whom say it is “Weah’s turn” this time. Weah has put education and job creation at the centre of his platform, in line with most of Liberia’s 19 other presidential candidates.
Regarded as one of the greatest African players of all-time and as one of the best forwards of his generation, in 1995 he was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or, becoming the first African player to win these awards. In 1989, 1994 and 1995, he was named the African Footballer of the Year, and in 1996, he was named African Player of the Century.
Known for his acceleration, speed, and dribbling ability, in addition to his goalscoring and clinical finishing, Weah was described by FIFA as “the precursor of the multi-functional strikers of today”. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players.
After starting his career in his home country of Liberia, Weah spent 14 years of his professional football career playing for clubs in France, Italy and England. Arsène Wenger brought him to Europe when he signed for Monaco in 1988. Weah moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where he won Ligue 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League.
He signed for Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, and won the Italian Serie A twice.[ His most notable goal in Italy saw him run the length of the field against Verona.
He moved to the English Premier League towards the end of his career and had spells at Chelsea and Manchester City, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001, and subsequently ending his career with Al-Jazira in 2003. At international level, he represented Liberia at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions.
