Soccer great George Weah to lead FIFA panel of ex-players advising on anti-racism fight

By Canadian Press on September 5, 2025.

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 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 said its new 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 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 announced the panel days after punishing six member federations, including defending champion Argentina, for racist or discriminatory abuse at men’s World Cup qualifying games in June.

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The Associated Press