President of South African football federation, Danny Jordaan, says Ghana’s Abedi Ayew Pele was one of the biggest brains and influence for Fifa World Cup hosted in Africa after fighting European and world opposition from notable personalities like Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini his former teammates.

Speaking on GTV Sports+ “TIME WITH THE CAPTAINS” show on Sunday, May 31, Danny Jordaan who was also the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, said: “Wow, time flies. It’s ten years already when FIFA World Cup was celebrated in our country, South Africa.”

“Abedi Pele started the process with us from the very beginning. I was travelling with him all the time. In 2006 when we bid for the world hosting rights, it was mainly against Germany so I remember Mr Franz Beckenbauer, who played in the German league, and Abedi had a fight because of some of the things they were saying about Africa and at the time he [Abedi] could speak German so he handled him [Mr Franz Beckenbauer].”

“Again, he had to fight Michel Platini very seriously because he felt bad when Platini said he did not see anything good in Africa hosting the World Cup and was a great work done from Mr Abedi Pele. In fact, he has a lot of these things to help African football, particularly South African football, and I’m so so proud of him and his achievements for Africa and in world football,” he said.

Born in Kibi in the Eastern region of Ghana, maestro Abedi Ayew Pele started his football career at Real Tamale United 1980 to 1982 before joining Al sadd, Zurich, Dragons l’Oueme our of Ghana but had to return to Real Tamale United after spending three years playing overseas.

Born in Kibi in the Eastern region of Ghana, maestro Abedi Ayew Pele started his football career at Real Tamale United 1980 to 1982 before joining Al sadd, FC Zurich, Dragons l’Oueme but had to return to Real Tamale United after spending three years playing overseas.

The Nania FC President also had stints with many other clubs such as Niort, Mulhouse, Marseille, Lyon, Torino, 1860 Munich and finally ended his glittering career at Al Ain in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in the 2000 with a total club career appearances of 479 and scoring 157 goals and 73 National appearances with 33 goals.

He was also honored with the BBC Africa footballer of the year 1991 and a three-time Africa footballer of year 1991,1992 and 1993.