New CAF president Ahmad Ahmad has already met ”The Maestro” to discuss the role he wants the three-time African Footballer of the Year to play under his leadership to help boost the game in Africa.

Abedi Pele was ostracized under former CAF President Issa Hayatou as the then leader threw the former Marseille star out of a CAF committee for supporting Sepp Blatter during the FIFA presidential election campaign in 1998.

Since then Abedi Pele has not played any major role for African football despite his immense knowledge, experience and contacts even though he was fully utilized by FIFA for various projects.

Now Ahmad has revealed that Abedi Pele is among the key former players he will cooperate with to enhance African football with Samuel Etoó, Didier Drogba and Patrick Mboma among some of the legends he will work with.

Ahmad defeated Hayatou in an election last month and says the Ghanaian legend is among some of the players he has already contacted. “I have spoken to Drogba on the telephone, I saw Abedi Pele, my colleague’s seen Samuel Eto’o, I talked to Patrick M’boma,” he said.

“CAF will organize a meeting soon with representatives of these African stars to discuss their future collaboration with the Confederation of African Football.”   Abedi Pele is the father of Ghana’s current key players Jordan Ayew and Andre Ayew.

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By Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The report, on some unknown news websites, started making the rounds on some social media platforms on Friday evening. The report had it that, Pele had died in France, Marseille on Friday.

But the three-time winner of the African Footballer award, who captained the Black Stars for years, told Rahman Osman of Citi Sports, that he is very much alive and well.

According to him, he has been at his home at East Legon in Accra, and that he is not treating any ailment as suggested.

He said the report is just a hoax, and so he would not comment further on it.

Pele’s son and West Ham United player, Andre Ayew, has responded to the rumour. According to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) he told Ghanasoccernet that his father is alive and kicking and not suffering from any illness.

“My dad is alive and very well. He has not suffered from any sickness or illness and has not received any treatment in France. The reports are complete lies and a hoax,” Andre Ayew told Ghanasoccernet.com.

Abedi Pele was one of the first great African players to make an impact on European club football.

Although he has retired from football, his name lives on, as his children, Andre Dede Ayew and Jordan Ayew, feature prominently at Westham and Aston Villa respectively, in the English Premier League.

They are also both players of Ghana’s senior national team, the Black Stars.

About Abedi Pele

Abedi Pele played for teams in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and most famously France, where he was very instrumental in Marseille’s prominence in the European Champions League during the early 1990s.

He is arguably Africa’s most decorated and honoured football player ever, winning the France Football Magazine African Player of the Year Award three times, was the inaugural winner of the BBC African Sports Star of the Year in 1992, and the corresponding Confederation of African Football award twice.

He was also awarded the golden ball award for being the best player at the 1992 African Cup of Nations, and was the “man of the match” in Marseille’s historic European Champions League final win over Milan in 1993.

Abedi Pele played for Ghana 73 times and is considered the greatest football player in his country’s history, and among the best in Africa. Until 7 June 2013 when he was surpassed by Asamoah Gyan, he was the top goal scorer for Ghana’s Black Stars with 33 goals.

He was a fixture in the African Championships of the 1980s and 90s with his national team, and a member of Ghana’s victorious team in the 1982 African Cup of Nations, but he never had an opportunity to play in the FIFA World Cup, as the Black Stars failed to qualify for the competition during his career.
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By:Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie

The post I’m not dead; and not sick – Abedi Pele appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.