Africa Is a Country

Who will play George Weah?

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Who will play George Weah?

By
Sean Jacobs

The blog Liberia and Friends reports the American actor/director Dermot Mulroney will develop and probably direct a biopic on the life of Liberian football legend George Weah. What does Mulroney know about football? Turns out he starred in a film about a young soccer player, “Gracie.” As for African topics, the news agency Reuters reports that he produced a film about Sudanese refugees.

Weah, the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year and one of the few players with a legitimate claim to be Africa’s best ever footballer–he probably is–never played in the World Cup. That Liberia was never a football power has a lot to do with. Liberia almost qualified for the 2002 World Cup once, but that’s the closest they came. Weah’s best football was played with Paris Saint Germain and AC Milan in European club football.

George Weah playing for AC Milan in 1995. Image Credit Allsport via Wikimedia Commons.

I hope the filmmakers do justice to the of special moments in Weah’s career, like the end-to-end goal in this video that he scored in Italy for AC Milan or this goal for PSG vs Bayern Munich in 1994.

The other big question is: Who will play George Weah? Idris Elba? He can play the adult, post-football Weah maybe. He’s definitely played an African president before.

Weah is now a politician and will probably run for president again in next year’s elections in Liberia. Oh, and he’s tried his hand at writing op-eds.

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.