George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and retired footballer. He is the 25th and current President of Liberia upon winning the 2017 general election in December 2017. He has played for Liberia national team.
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.
After his football career with his high popularity, he ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting. In the 2011 election, he ran for vice president on Winston Tubman's ticket. Running as a Congress for Democratic Change candidate, Weah was elected to the Senate in 2014.
Weah won the presidency while a candidate for President of Liberia in the 2017 general election against Vice President Joseph Boakai.
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Liberia
Naohiro Takahara
Takahara was born in Mishima on June 4, 1979. After graduating from Shimizu Higashi High School, he joined J1 League club Júbilo Iwata in 1998. In 1998, the club won J.League Cup and he was selected "New Hero awards". In 1999, the club won J1 League and 1998–99 Asian Club Championship. The club also won the 2nd place 1999–00 and 2000–01 Asian Club Championship. In August 2001, he moved to Boca Juniors on loan. In February 2002, he returned to Júbilo Iwata. The club won the champions and he became a top scorer with 26 goals in 27 matches. End of 2002 season, he moved to German Bundesliga club Hamburger SV. In 2006, he moved to Eintracht Frankfurt. In 2008, he returned to Japan and joined Urawa Reds. However his opportunity to play decreased in 2010 and he moved to K-League club Suwon Samsung Bluewings in July. In 2011, he returned to Japan and joined Shimizu S-Pulse. From 2013, he played for Tokyo Verdy, SC Sagamihara and Okinawa SV.
In August 1995, Takahara was selected Japan U-17 national team for 1995 U-17 World Championship. He played all 3 matches and scored 1 goal. In April 1999, he was also selected Japan U-20 national team for 1999 World Youth Championship. He played all 7 matches and scored 3 goals. Japan won the 2nd place. In February 2000, he was selected Japan national team for 2000 Asian Cup qualification. At this qualification, on February 13, he debuted against Singapore. He played all 3 matches and 3 goals and Japan won the qualify for 2000 Asian Cup.
In September, he was selected Japan U-23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics. He played all 4 matches and scored 3 goals in first match and quarterfinal. In October, he played at 2000 Asian Cup. He played 5 matches and scored 5 goals. Japan won the champions. However he missed the 2002 World Cup, because of lung disease (venous thrombosis).
After 2002 World Cup, Takahara played at 2003 Confederations Cup. Although his convocation for Japan decreased due to the schedule, he played as regular player when he was elected Japan. In 2006, he was elected Japan for 2006 World Cup and he played all 3 matches. After 2006 World Cup, he played at 2007 Asian Cup. He played 6 matches and scored 4 goals, and became a top scorer. He played 57 games and scored 23 goals for Japan until 2008.
309||99||10||1||29||11||4||1||352||112
6||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||6||1
135||25||12||6||3||1||18||2||168||34
12||4||1||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||14||4
462||129||23||7||32||12||23||3||540||151
!Total||57||23
Shunsuke Nakamura
Nakamura was born in Yokohama on June 24, 1978. After graduating from Toko Gakuen High School, he joined J1 League club Yokohama Marinos (later "Yokohama F. Marinos") in 1997. He played as regular player from first season. In 2000, the club won the 2nd place in J1 League. He was selected "J.League MVP" and "Japanese Footballer of the Year". In summer 2002, he moved to Serie A club Reggina. In 2005, he moved to Scottish Premier League club Celtic. The club won the champions 3 times in 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08. In 2007, he was selected "Scottish Player of the Year" award. In 2009, he moved to Spanish La Liga club Espanyol. In February 2010, he returned to Japan and joined his first club Yokohama F. Marinos. In 2013, the club won the 2nd place in J1 League and he was selected "J.League MVP" and "Japanese Footballer of the Year". In 2017, he moved to Júbilo Iwata. In 2019, he could hardly play in the match and moved to J2 League club Yokohama FC in July. The club won the 2nd place in 2019 and was promoted to J1 from 2020.
In February 2000, Nakamura was selected the Japan national team for 2000 Asian Cup qualifier. At this qualifier, he debuted against Singapore on February 13. He played many matches as regular player in 2000. He was also selected the Japan U-23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics. In October, he played at 2000 Asian Cup and Japan won the champions. However he could hardly play in the match from 2001 and he was not selected Japan for 2002 World Cup. After the 2002 World Cup, he became a regular player under new manager Zico and played as central player for Japan for a long time. In 2004, he participated in the 2004 Asian Cup which Japan the champions. He played all 6 matches and scored 2 goals, and he was selected MVP award. He was selected Japan for 2006 World Cup. He played all 3 matches and scored 1 goal. In 2007, he played in the 2007 Asian Cup, but this time the team failed to defend the title and finished the 4th place. In 2010, he was selected Japan for 2010 World Cup. However he lost his position just before 2010 World Cup and he played only one match as substitute. After the 2010 World Cup, Nakamura retired from national team. He played 98 games and scored 24 goals for Japan.
406||74||31||8||42||7||5||0||484||89
81||11||6||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||87||12
128||29||12||1||7||1||19||3||166||34
13||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||15||0
628||114||51||10||49||8||24||3||752||135
!Total||98||24
Romário
Romário (born 29 January 1966) is a Brazilian politician and retired football player. He has played for Brazil national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest striker of all time.
In February 2015, he was elected to the Brazilian Senate. In February 2021, he became Second Vice President of the Senate.
240||150
109||98
57||39
3||0
21||17
4||1
434||305
!Total||70||55
Fernando Hierro
Fernando Hierro (born 23 March 1968) is a former Spanish football player. He has played for Spain national team.
497||104
19||3
29||1
545||108
!Total||89||29
Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Shevchenko (, born 29 September 1976) is a former Ukrainian football player and former politician. He ir current football manager. He played for Dynamo Kyiv, Milan and Chelsea football teams. He was the captain of Ukrainian national football team.
Shevchenko is among top goalscorer in all European competitions.
Andriy Shevchenko was born in the village of Dvirkivshchyna, Yahotyn district, Kyiv region. Three years after the birth of their son, the Shevchenko family moved to Kyiv, to the Obolon district. There Andrew went to the first class of the 216th high school. At the age of 9 he got into the football section. The first coach is Alexander Shpakov. Parents were initially skeptical of their child's fascination, but the coach was able to convince them.
In 1990, the 14-year-old Dynamo won the Ian Rush Cup in Wales, and Shevchenko became the tournament's top scorer and received a pair of boots from Ian Rush himself. In 1991, the "Dynamo" boys won the USSR championship among boys born in 1976. The team traveled to international tournaments in Europe, including the San Siro in Milan.
Andriy Shevchenko's first appearance in adult football took place in the 1992/93 season. With 12 goals, he became the top scorer of the first league team "Dynamo-2". Then he was invited to the Olympic team of Ukraine, and he appeared in the major leagues. He was first replaced on November 8, 1994 (the game with Shakhtar). At that time, the Dynamo team was coached by Jozef Szabo.
117||60||21||15||28||19||166||94