Ghanaian football legend, Abedi Pele Ayew has disclosed that growing up in the northern part of the country inspired his rise to stardom in football.

Abedi who was born and raised in Paga, a town in the Upper East region of Ghana, became famous after showcasing his exhilarating football prowess at the tender age of 13.

The three-time African Footballer of the year begun his career with Real Tamale United [RTU] before earning a move to Qatar but later returned to play for a club in Benin and later returned to RTU for the second time where he got his breakthrough move to France.

In an interview sighted by GhanaWeb with the French Ambassador to Ghana, Anne Sophie Avé, Abedi Pele revealed that his desire to make it to the apex of his career was born out of the fact that he wanted to change the poverty status-quo he came from.

“If you look at where I come from, it’s one of the impoverished areas in Ghana from the North. To have a boy come from not only the North but the border between Burkina Faso and Ghana, [is not easy]", Abedi Pele said.

According to him his rise to prominence was a steady process that required hard work and self-confidence.

“You come [from Paga] and dominate the whole region, you take over the country and take it to the continent and from there to another continent, Europe,” the former Olympic Marseille star stated, adding, “This demands a lot of hard work and a lot of self-confidence to believe in yourself that you can do it, all this combined to make me who I am today.”

Abedi who won the Golden Foot Legends Award in 2011, noted also that, “I believe opportunities were given to me and I decided to take it.”