Abedi Ayew Pelé

▪ Ghanian athlete

born November 5, 1964, Ghana

      Ghanaian football (soccer) player who was the only man to have won the African Player of the Year award three consecutive times (1991–93). As an attacking midfielder with Olympique de Marseille in France, Abedi Pelé was one of the first African players to have an impact on club football in Europe.

      Having been given the nickname "Pelé" in recognition of his superior ability that evoked comparisons to Brazilian great Pelé, Abedi Pelé's nomadic career began with Real Tamale in Ghana in 1978. He became a member of Ghana's national team, the Black Stars, who won the African Cup of Nations in Libya in 1982.

      Abedi Pelé led Saad Club to the Qatar national championship in 1983. He later moved to France, where between 1986 and 1993 he played for Chamois Niortais, Mulhouse, Olympique de Marseilles, and Lille. At Marseilles (1989–90, 1991–93) he combined attacking flair with tactical acumen and an uncanny ability to make game-winning plays and became a mainstay of the prodigious team that won French League titles in 1991 and 1992 as well as the Champions League title in 1993. After a corruption scandal disintegrated the Marseilles club, Abedi Pelé moved to Olympique Lyonnais in 1993. He then played in Italy, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates before retiring in 1998. That same year an appreciative Ghanaian government bestowed upon him their highest honour, the Order of Volta (civil division).

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