Abedi Pele, Razak to star for Africa Oldies

TWO former superstars, Abedi Pele and Abdul Razak, have been named among retired footballers to feature for an Africa All-Stars team against Europe All-Stars in a special Meridian Football Tournament slated for the Italian city of Bari early next month.

Abedi Pele, who has featured in the Meridian tournament since its inception in Portugal four years ago, will be playing as a retired footballer for the first time, while it is also the first time that his senior colleague, Abdul Razak, will be gracing the tournament.

Previous participations in the tournament had been limited to young and active leading stars selected by CAF from across the continent and by UEFA from across the European continent.

But both CAF and UEFA are dedicating this year’s edition to retired stars from the two continents who fall between the ages of 35 and 45.

For this reason, CAF sources said Ivorian-born former French international, Basile Boli, who was originally selected to be part of the team, was dropped upon protest that he never played for the continent, that is for his country Cote d’Ivoire. Boli’s misfortune was Razak and Ghana’s gain.

Abedi Pele, who captained Africa’s team in the first ever Meridian tournament scoring a memorable goal against Dutch international goalie Van der Saar to beat Europe 2-1, has been tipped to captain the team again.

The Meridian tournament, which is an UEFA initiative towards the development of football projects in Africa, has been aimed principally at giving exposure to young footballers of both continents.

Consequently, as has been the format since Portugal ‘97, the top four Under-17 national teams from Africa will be pitting their strength against Europe’s top four this time round too in Bari.

Africa’s top four include Ghana, Cameroun, Nigeria and Mali, incidentally all from West Africa, while Europe will be represented by the hosts, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal.

The U-17 tournament precedes that of the retired footballers, kicking off on January 27 and ending on February 6.