Liberia’s former international football star George Weah will run for his country’s presidency for a second time in next year’s elections.
The former Paris St. Germain, AC Milan and Chelsea player was the highest-ranking African footballer in FIFA’s list of greatest players of the 20th century.
Weah previously vied for the presidency in 2005 but lost to the incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Sirleaf is barred from running again by the country’s constitution after her second term elapses in 2017.
Weah is currently a senator for the western province of Montserrado, which includes the capital Monrovia.
In 2011, the fomer Ballond’Or winner ran for vice-president under Winston Tubman but did not win.
Mr Weah belongs to the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party.
Announcing his presidential bid in Monrovia, he said he had been a “victim of poverty” like many of his supporters, and said he would boost vocational education.
He also pledged to increase the national budget and work towards religious harmony.
