Abedi Ayew, born on November 5, 1964, is a former Ghana international footballer and captain, who was named African Footballer of the year in 1991, 1992 and 1993. A powerful forward with exemplary dribbling and passing techniques, he is considered one of the greatest players to have come out of Africa and in 2004, the legendary Pele named him as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in the world.

Born Abedi Ayew at a small village called Oko near Dome at the northern outskirts of the Ghanaian capital, Accra, he grew up playing football in the streets and even in his formative years, he showed signs of things to come by being able to work with both hands and feet to the amazement of his peers and many who watched him. It was of little wonder therefore when he acquired the nickname – Pele after the legendary Brazilian.

With an ambition of making it as a great footballer in future, he enrolled as a trainee with a local colts (juvenile) club in Accra - Great Falcons in the mid 1970’s. Playing as an attacking midfielder, Abedi rose through the ranks and soon became a regular starter in the side that competed and won many laurels in the Greater Accra regional leagues and also at the national level.

His contributions to the club was not left unnoticed as in 1978, he was honoured by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) as the best juvenile player for that year – the first of its kind in the history of the Association. Abedi's exploits on the football field, soon attracted interest from bigger clubs and he stepped up a gear from the juvenile ranks as he was signed by Real Tamale United (RTU), then newly promoted to the Ghanaian elite division in 1978.

For the next few years, he endured himself in helping RTU became competitive on the Ghanaian scene. This did not go unnoticed by the national team selectors who included him in the Ghana squad that competed and won the 13th African Cup of Nations tourney in Libya in 1982, defeating the hosts 7-6 on penalties after the final game had ended one all after extra time. Abedi Pele was the youngest member of the Ghanaian team that won the nation’s fourth continental title.

Abedi Pele was one of the pioneers of African football in Europe. One of the first great African players to make an impact on European club football, he played for teams in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and most famously France where he was very instrumental in Marseille's prominence in the European game during the early 1990’s.

At the start of the decade beginning 1980, playing outside the shores of Ghana was a rear commodity for the local player but this was a venture Abedi would dare when still a teenager, and, although that move did not yield much dividend then, the experience gained would later help him in his future prospects. He left the country in 1983 to Qatar where he played for local club Al Saad without achieving much and later on to Switzerland where he had limited opportunities with F.C. Zurich in the Swiss top-flight.

He returned to Ghana a year later in a bid to re-lunch his career and was soon entangled in a struggle for his signature between the nation’s two biggest clubs - Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak who all wanted to have him on their books. However, a call came from Benin and he was obliged to go and play for one of the biggest clubs in this West African country, Dragons FC for a short spell.

His performances there would lay the foundation for him to move on to achieve great success in French football. Abedi came back to Ghana to play for RTU for a season in 1985 before leaving for France to begin what turned out to be a very successful spell in European football.

French lower division club Chamois Niort was the first point of call for the former Ghana captain in 1986 and he put up same amazing displays that would earn him praise form connoisseurs of the game in France and beyond. It was therefore of little surprise when he attracted interests from the big guns in France.

After making 32 appearances and scoring 14 goals for the then French 2nd division outfit, he moved on to another side in that division, Mulhouse in 1987 where he had 16 games and scored five goals before Ligue 1 giants Olympique Marseille came calling that same season. He did not score in nine games in all competitions before the campaign ended, but this was a giant leap for the young Abedi who would later play a commanding role in the annals of the club.

The following season did not start well for the Ghanaian legend and after making four appearances, he was signed on by another top - flight side Lille for the reminder of the 1988 - ’89 season and there he found the net seven times in 24 appearances. The following season saw the Maestro as he is also referred to, scoring nine times in 37 games and this clearly caught the eyes of his former employers Marseille who resigned him for the 1990-’91 campaign.

That began three seasons of great success for Abedi as among other accolades; he won the French Ligue 1 title twice as well as the European Champions Cup in 1993 when they defeated Italian giants AC Milan 1-0 in the final with Abedi providing the assist that saw Basile Boli head home the match winner in Munich. This was after they failed to do same against Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia two years earlier.

However, that success with Olympique Marseilles was tainted with some controversy as later the European governing body of the sport, Uefa banned the French from defending their title the following season after club owner Bernard Tapie had been found guilty of cheating and match fixing in the lead up to that achievement. Nevertheless, the heroics of the Ghanaian and his team-mates cannot be overlooked and down played for the able manner with which they despatch the Italians.

The former Ghana captain sought new challenges after his days with Marseilles and joined Olympique Lyon in the season of 1993 – ’94 and also played for Torino of Italy, where he won the best foreign player in Serie A, before finishing his European sojourn with 1860 Munich in Germany where he played for two seasons. Abedi Pele went on to sign a 2 year contract with Al Ain FC in the United Arab Emirates before calling timeout on his career in 2000.

Abedi is truly a Ghanaian legend when it comes to football and his many achievements demonstrates this. As a 17 year old, he helped Ghana win the African Cup of Nations tourney in Libya although he could not lead the team to a similar success as captain in 1992 in Senegal after missing the final through suspension against Cote d’Ivoire as Ghana lost 11-10 on penalties to their western neighbours.

He played for the Ghana national team between 1982 and1998, winning 73 international caps and scoring 33 goals in the process. In appreciation of his devout services to the country, the Ghanaian government awarded him the country's highest honour, the Order of the Volta (civil division). He thus becomes the first Ghanaian sportsman to be so honoured.

Even in retirement, the Maestro is still involved in the game in his country and also at the international level first serving as a member of the Football Association of Ghana in 2001 before stepping up to work with both the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA the world’s governing body of the sport where he serves on the football committee.

Abedi has seen the need to give back to the community that made him what he is and at present owns a club called Nania FC which he coaches with the future hope of nurturing young talents who could become like him or even do better. The team plays in a league that is one tier lower than the elite division in Ghana hoping to make it to the premiership one day.

Abedi is a member of the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup Planning Committee that would organise next year’s event where 32 of the best football nations on earth would gather to compete for the right to be World Champions.

Ghana has indeed produced many great football talents since the game was first introduced into the country by British sailors in 1903. Great names like Aggrey Fynn, Edward Acguah, Charles K. Gyamfi, Baba Yara, James Adjei, Osei Kofi, Ibrahim Sunday, Abdul Razak, Opoku Nti and Anthony Yeboah have all played commanding roles in the annals of Ghana football and this cannot be overlooked and so too is the name Abedi Ayew ‘Pele' arguably the greatest of them all.