Fifty-one year old Liberian President George Weah broke out into a sweat when he took to the pitch on Tuesday evening during an international friendly in the capital, Monrovia.
Weah, the first African footballer to win Fifa’s World Player of the Year award, featured for 79 minutes in the game, which Nigeria won 2-1.
Liberia arranged the friendly to retire their number 14 shirt, worn by Weah at his playing peak.
Sworn in as president in January, the former AC Milan striker received a standing ovation as he was substituted.
Weah told the BBC’s Jonathan Paye-Layleh that his footballing skill would never leave him:
“ I am a technician from birth, like my father and I’ll always be.
I am a technician from birth, like my father and I’ll always be.
He also revealed that he was originally assigned the number 14 jersey when he was a substitute for the national team:
Over the years I worked hard from the bench to the field and I made the number 14 famous in the country.
It should encourage every young man that wants to strive for excellence to do their best.
It should encourage every young man that wants to strive for excellence to do their best.
Being on the bench doesn’t mean I was the worst player just that it was not my time. But when the time came with hard work I persevered.
The path will not always be clear and I know there’re going to be a lot of bumps along the way, but you have to be resilient, you have to be committed to yourself and believe in yourself . That’s what I did.
The path will not always be clear and I know there’re going to be a lot of bumps along the way, but you have to be resilient, you have to be committed to yourself and believe in yourself . That’s what I did.”
