How one of Ghana’s greatest player ever Abedi Ayew was named after Brazilian legend.
Abedi Ayew was born into a family in the town of Kibi and grew up in the town of Dome at the northern outskirts of the city Accra.
He grew up with 18 siblings and all he ever wanted to do was just play football. He had absolutely no idea who Pelé was because he never had access to electricity and televisions.
But even at a young age, whenever Abedi is playing football in any small corner he finds himself, he realised people older than him kept shouting ‘oh Pele, he plays like Pele.’
The nickname got more popular when he attended Ghana Senior High School in Tamale and at a point, no one referred to him as Abedi Ayew. Everyone including his teachers, friends and family started to call him ‘Abedi Pelé’.
During his fruitful career, he played as an attacking midfielder or forward and was known for his speed, close control, and dribbling skills, as well as his passing and goalscoring ability.
He began his football career playing for teams in Ghana, Qatar and Benin. His career in Europe began with French team Chamois Niort, before he joined Marseille and transferred to Lille on loan. His brilliance helped Marseille’s dominance of the French league, leading to them appearing in four league championships and two European Cup finals.
The nickname Pelé followed the attacking midfielder all the way from Ghana to some of the world’s biggest football stages, including the 1993 Champions League final where he helped lead the French club Olympique Marseille to its first ever European championship.
Pelé’s legacy transcends Brazil and South America and gave Ghana and African a football icon. Thanks Pelé for inspiring another version of yourself in Ghana Abedi Pelé. The world will always remember you.
Abedi Ayew Pele served as captain of the Ghana national team and won the UEFA Champions League in 1993, among other titles during his time in France. He is a three-time African Footballer of the Year winner, Ghana’s most successful football player and the 2nd highest goalscorer of the Ghana national team, and has received the Golden Foot award.
In the 1990s, Abédi Pelé received a FIFA World Player of the Year top ten nomination and was listed in the 2004 “FIFA 100” greatest living footballers.
Photo by Lee Warren / Gallo Images
On 13 January 2007, the Confederation of African Football voted Abédi Pelé among others as members of the CAF top 30 best African players of all-time. In addition, Abédi and a few others were names best African players of the century in 1999 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
Abedi’s sons, Ibrahim, André and Jordan, have also become internationals for Ghana. Andre and Ibrahim – represented Ghana in the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa while Jordan and Andre represented Ghana in the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil and 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
