Abedi Ayew Pele Advocates for Football as a Catalyst for Peace Ahead of Ghana’s 2024 General Elections
Football icon Abedi Ayew Pele has emphasized the role of football in promoting peace during and after the 2024 Ghana General Elections. With rising tensions surrounding the December 7 elections, where Ghanaians will vote for parliamentary representatives and a new president, stakeholders are calling this poll one of the most crucial in the nation’s history.
Leading the presidential race are Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and former president John Dramani Mahama, flagbearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Pele, a three-time African Footballer of the Year, highlighted a historical example of football’s peace-promoting potential, recalling how FIFA used the sport to negotiate a ceasefire in Kosovo in the 1990s through an exhibition match.
“Football can unite a nation. Football can bring people together. And football is the number one peacemaker to ensure that the elections go well, peacefully, without any incidents at all. The whole country should listen and be very patient,” Pele stated in an interview with Max TV.
He added, “We always say that patience moves mountains. We should just be patient and allow our leaders to do what it takes to bring peace. Football is the key to the heart of the people.”
Pele recounted his experience during the Yugoslavian war, when FIFA President Sepp Blatter organized a match in Kosovo. “When we arrived in the city, there were guns firing, but we were brave enough. Luckily, when we got there, the guns were silent. The stadium was full of military men, and everybody had their guns down. It tells you what football can bring to the people.”
One of Ghana’s most decorated footballers, Abedi Pele won the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with the Black Stars and the Champions League with Marseille in 1983.
