George Weah Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Humanitarianism== Weah is a devoted humanitarian for his war-torn country. During his playing career he became a [[UN Goodwill Ambassador]].<ref name="Weah to run for president again"/> At the 2004 [[ESPY Award]]s at the [[Dolby Theatre|Kodak Theatre]], Los Angeles, Weah won the [[Arthur Ashe Courage Award]] for his efforts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://espn.go.com/espy2004/s/04asheaward.html |title=Weah selected for Arthur Ashe Courage Award |access-date=25 April 2007 |publisher=ESPN}}</ref> He has also been named a [[UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.unicef.org/people/people_george_weah.html |title=George Weah |publisher=UNICEF |access-date=27 December 2017}}</ref> a role which he has suspended in his political career.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.worldofvolley.com/News/stories/Life-after-career/29342/george-weah---from-striker-to-president.html |title=George Weah β From striker to president|access-date=27 December 2017}}</ref> Off the football pitch, he stood out throughout his career for his initiatives to fight against racism in the game.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/4761857.stm |title=Weah on racism |website=BBC Sport |first=Durosimi |last=Thomas |date=11 May 2006 |access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref> ===Football and children=== Weah has tried to use football as a way to bring happiness and promote education for children in Liberia. In 1998, Weah launched a CD called ''Lively Up Africa'' featuring the singer Frisbie Omo Isibor and eight other African football stars. The proceeds from this CD went to children's programs in the countries of origin of the athletes involved.<ref>{{cite news |title=UNICEF People: George Weah |url=https://www.unicef.org/people/people_george_weah.html |access-date=29 August 2018 |agency=UNICEF}}</ref> Weah was President of [[Junior Professional FC|Junior Professional]], a former football club he founded in Monrovia in 1994. As a way to encourage young people to remain in school, the club's only requirement for membership was school attendance. Many of the young people, recruited from all over Liberia, went on to play for the Liberian national team.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201605091262.html |title=Liberia: Amb. George Manneh Saykozie Weah, Best Man to Lead New Liberia |last=Bamba |first=Mohammed M. |date=9 May 2016 |work=FrontPageAfrica (Monrovia)|access-date=27 December 2017}}</ref> Weah was also actively involved with youth programs in a Liberian enclave on [[Staten Island]], New York, when he resided there for a time.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.silive.com/news/2017/12/former_staten_islander_george.html |title=Former Islander and soccer star George Weah elected president of Liberia |first=Erik |last=Bascome |newspaper=Staten Island Advance |date=29 December 2017 |access-date=30 May 2019}}</ref> ===Football academies=== The Diya Group chairman and Indian entrepreneur Nirav Tripathi announced a multimillion-dollar partnership with Weah in 2016, whereby global football academies would be established to help assist youth in both impoverished and emerging nations.<ref name="Diya Hope Football Academy">{{cite web |url=https://www.diyahopefootball.org/welcome |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109020945/https://www.diyahopefootball.org/welcome |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 January 2017 |title=Diya Hope Football Academy |publisher=Diya Hope Football Academy}}</ref> The motivation for the academies is cited as a shared experience between both Tripathi and Weah in how sport can transform lives in their nations of India and Liberia, which both still suffer from severe poverty.<ref name="Diya Hope Football Academy"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page