ZURICH (AP) — Soccer great George Weah, who served as state president of Liberia, will lead a FIFA expert panel of former players advising on the fight against racism, the governing body said on Friday.
Weah, who won the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best men's player in 1995, will be joined on the 16-strong Players’ Voice Panel by Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor and Briana Scurry, the United States goalkeeper on the 1999 Women’s World Cup-winning team.
“The panel monitors and advises on anti-racism initiatives,” FIFA said in a statement, “drives education at all levels of the game and serves as a think tank for new ideas.”
High-level player input was promised in May last year when FIFA President Gianni Infantino relaunched a coordinated global effort against racism and discrimination in the game. It urged all 211 member federations to prosecute and sanction cases more efficiently.
FIFA announced the panel days after punishing six member federations, including defending champion Argentina, for racist or discriminatory abuse by spectators at men’s World Cup qualifying games in June.
The player panel “will offer support and practical advice on how to join them in taking a stand against what, in many countries, are criminal acts,” FIFA said.
FIFA called Weah, who starred as a goal-scorer for Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, its honorary captain of the panel.
“I am honored to serve in this role,” said Weah, who was the elected president of Liberia for six years through January 2024. “I will always exert all efforts, as I have done in the past and continue to do, to promote the sport because football is life.”
FIFA previously had an anti-racism task force in 2013 that co-opted active players including Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure, then playing for Manchester City, and U.S. forward Jozy Altidore.
That task force was created in fallout from a notorious case of abuse directed by fans at AC Milan player Kevin-Prince Boateng. It reported to FIFA’s then-president Sepp Blatter and was shut down by his successor Infantino in 2016.
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FIFA Players’ Voice Panel: George Weah (Liberia), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Mercy Akide (Nigeria), Iván Córdoba (Colombia), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Khalilou Fadiga (Senegal), Formiga (Brazil), Jessica Houara (France), Maia Jackman (New Zealand), Sun Jihai (China), Blaise Matuidi (France), Aya Miyama (Japan), Lotta Schelin (Sweden), Briana Scurry (United States), Mikaël Silvestre (France), Juan Pablo Sorín (Argentina).
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
The Associated Press
