George Weah

===International career===
Since making his debut for the [[Liberia national football team|Liberia national team]] against [[Burkina Faso national football team|Burkina Faso]] on 23 February 1986, Weah played 75 games, scoring 18 goals.<ref name="RSSSF"/> Representing one of the smaller nations in world football and perennial underdogs, Weah did much to support the national squad: aside from being the team's star player, he also later coached the squad and even funded his national side to a large extent. Despite his efforts, he was unsuccessful in helping Liberia qualify for a single [[FIFA World Cup]], falling just a point short in [[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification|qualifying for the 2002 tournament]]. However, he did help Liberia to qualify for the [[African Cup of Nations]] on two occasions: Weah represented his country in the [[1996 African Cup of Nations|1996]] and [[2002 African Cup of Nations|2002]] editions of the tournament, although Liberia failed to make it out of their group both times, suffering first-round eliminations.<ref name="FIFA"/>

Weah has been named by several media outlets as one of the best players to never play at the World Cup.<ref name="LA Times">{{cite news |last1=Baxter |first1=Kevin |title=World Cup: Best players never to play in it or never to win a title |url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-world-cup-lists-20140518-story.html|access-date=10 April 2018 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=17 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="Murray">{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Scott |title=The Joy of Six: football greats who never made the World Cup |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/nov/22/joy-of-six-football-greats-world-cup|access-date=10 April 2018 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sarahs |first1=Paul |title=Russia 2018: The best players never to feature at the FIFA World Cup |url=https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/russia-2018-best-players-never-feature-fifa-world-cup-144544791.html|access-date=10 April 2018 |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=10 October 2017}}</ref>

{{blockquote|One of the greatest African players of all time, George Weah was, like his namesake [[George Best]] before him, hamstrung in World Cup terms by hailing from a global minnow.|Scott Murray writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'' on Weah's "stand alone effort" to get his nation to a World Cup.<ref name="Murray"/>}}

Weah returned to the national team for a specially arranged [[Friendly (association football)|friendly]] against Nigeria on 11 September 2018, his final international appearance, playing at the age of 51 while in office as the country's president. His number 14 shirt, worn at his playing peak, was retired after the friendly, with Weah receiving a standing ovation when he was substituted.<ref>{{cite news |date=11 September 2018 |title=George Weah: Former World Player of the Year plays for Liberia, aged 51 |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45490570 |website=BBC Sport |access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref>