Monrovia – Timothy Weah scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) beat Ludogorets at the Stadion Georgi Asparuhov in Sofia in the UEFA Youth League (for Under-19s) on September 28.

Timothy, who is the son of Montserrado County Senator George Weah, scored the second goal in the 29^th minute from a Colin Dagba assist.

His brace, which was PSG’s fifth goal, came three minutes after the break from an Alec Georgen connection.

Timothy took home the match ball, which was his side’s seventh goal, from a Samuel Essende pass in the 85^th minute.

His first goal was sandwiched by Essende’s first half brace as Christopher Nkunku also scored a brace.

PSG are second in Group A with four points, two points adrift of leaders Basel, who beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Meadow Park in London on September 28.

About Timothy

Judging from past videos, Timothy might be one of the few sons of legendary footballers who can match his dad’s achievements. 

Jordi Cruyff, Alex Bruce, Tom Ince, Darren Ferguson, Nicky Summerbee, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Clemence are few examples of professional footballers who never quite got out of their dad’s shadow and will Timothy flatter to deceive.

And while having a dad who an African, European and a world best in 1995 might be too much pressure for some kids, young Timothy doesn’t seem to be too bothered.

He scored five goals as PSG under-17 beat China’s Shanghai Greenland Shenhua 13-0 in the 2016 Al Kass International Cup on February 10 in Qatar.

His fifth, a deft back-heeled flick, was a strike even his dad, who is perhaps best remembered for a wonder goal for AC Milan against Verona in Serie A on September 8, 1996, would have been proud of.

Having impressed on trial, PSG awarded Timothy a youth contract on May 13 until 2018.

His dad represented PSG between 1992 and 1995, winning the Ballon d’Or for the latter year shortly after moving to Milan.

And Weah expressed his delight at seeing his son, an American-born French, moved to the Parc des Princes.

“I am very proud and very happy to see my son grow into this great club that is Paris Saint-Germain. I player here too of course, for me it is a great pride. I hope the club will continue to grow, to become one of the biggest teams in the world. I also played here, of course, and this gives me great pride,” Weah told the club’s official website.

Timothy has represented the United States of America (USA) at the under-15 and under-17 levels and was part of John Hackworth’s 20-man squad that won the under-15 2015 Tournament Delle Nazioni in Italy.

They first trained in Italy and played Group C games in Slovenia against Costa Rica, Slovenia and Croatia.

At 15, Timothy, a 55^th minute substitute for Lucas Del Rosario, scored a 61^st minute goal as USA beat Austria 3-2 in the grand-finale on May 1 in Italy.

They were leading 3-0 before Nicolas Meister scored in the 63^rd and 76^th minutes respectively, according to ussoccer.com.

Timothy replaced Lucas in the 58^th minute in a goalless draw in the semi-final with Italy but USA won 5-4 on penalties with Timothy converting the last kick on April 29.

He started the 3-2 defeat to Slovenia in the group stage but was replaced by Zico Bailey in the 54^th minute on April 27.

Timothy was an unused substitute when USA beat Croatia 6-2 with four goals for Ayo Akinola and a brace for Andrew Carleton on April 26.

In their first match, Timothy provided two assists to Lucas, who scored twice as USA beat Costa Rica 4-1 before he was replaced by Adrian Villegas in the 50^th minute on April 25. 

Weah kept a home in New York during his playing career and met Timothy’s mother, Clar, when he was opening an account at a New York Chase bank where she worked.

According to BigAppleSoccer.com’s Michael Lewis, Clar was Timothy’s first coach.

“She knows the game a lot because she watched my dad,” Timothy said.

In 2012, Timothy was selected to USA Club Soccer’s id2 program. Later that year, while playing for BW Gottschee, the Rosedale, New York resident made then coach Hugo Perez’s national under-14 squad and returned to the U-14 squad under coach Tony Lepore in 2013 and under current USA under-14 coach Brian Johnson in 2014, by which time Weah had moved to New York Red Bulls.

“Wherever we went, we went to malls and stuff and everyone would be like, ‘Oh, that’s George Weah.’ I would just laugh and say, ‘My dad was one of the greatest players and I want to follow in his footsteps.’

“But I also want to make a name for myself. I want to be Timothy Weah, be myself, play my game and still follow in his footsteps while I’m doing that,” Timothy told Lewis in a 2013 interview.

Interestingly, Weah revealed that he took Timothy for a trial at Chelsea – his former club – in 2013, when his son was just 13.

Judging by the fact he is now playing for PSG, someone at Stamford Bridge clearly decided the young man wasn’t good enough for The Blues.

About the Youth League (from Wikipedia)

The UEFA Youth League (originally titled as the UEFA under-19 Champions League) is a competition for all under age players registered to the 32 senior clubs that qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, plus 32 domestic youth champions.

The teams in the first tournament, 2013-14 season, played a group stage with the same composition and calendar as the 2013-14 UEFA Champions’ League group stage, and was held on a ‘trial basis’.

The eight group-winners and eight runners-up the from group stage then participated in a knockout phase.

Unlike the UEFA Champions League, the knockout phase had single-leg ties, with the semi-finals and final played at neutral venues.

British media commented that the competition was formed to “limit the growing influence of the NextGen Series”.

The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers.

It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their age group in a competitive environment.

The competition was created by sports television producer Justin Andrews, Rangers manager Mark Warburton and Brentford owner Matthew Benham.

Plans to create a European competition for youth footballers had long been explored.

Ajax and Manchester City played a behind closed doors match in November 2010 as did Liverpool and Celtic. This was part of a trial scheme for the new competition.

On 16 August 2013, organizers confirmed that the NextGen Series had been suspended for the 2013–14 campaign because of funding issues and lacking of competitive space since the creation of UEFA Youth League.

In April 2014, Barcelona became the first champion, beating Benfica 3–0 in the final-four held in Nyon.

After a two-year trial period, the UEFA Youth League became a permanent UEFA competition starting from the 2015-16 season, with the tournament expanded from 32 to 64 teams to allow the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their UEFA country coefficient to also participate.

The 32 UEFA Champions’ League group stage youth teams retain the group stage format, with the group winners advancing to the round of 16 and the runners-up advancing to the play-offs.

The 32 youth domestic champions play two rounds of two-legged ties, with the eight winners advancing to the play-offs, where they play a single match at home against the Champions League path runners-up.

The round of 16 onwards retains the same format of single-leg ties as before.

The most successful team is Chelsea, who have won the trophy on two consecutive seasons by beating Shakhtar Donetsk on 13 April 2015 and PSG on 18 April 2016.

Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com (Reporter)

Monrovia – The 2016 European championship has come and gone and the Liberia Football Association (LFA) has some positive news to report.

Report by Danesius Marteh, danesius.marteh@frontpageafricaonline.com

LFA President Musa Bility was in Paris to watch the grand finale between France and Portugal and his photo has gone viral on Facebook to silence the doubting Thomases.

A July 10 FA release posted on its official Facebook page said Liberia has been included among African countries that will benefit from a mentoring program between the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Bility is said to have attended the collaboration meeting between UEFA and CAF where, among other things, 10,000 footballs were promised to each CAF member while countries such as Nigeria and Egypt, with large population, will benefit more.

“We are just beginning the process and hopefully in conjunction with UEFA and FIFA, we will establish the mentoring countries for each of the member association in Africa,” said Bility in an exclusive interview with LFA communications consultant Horatio Bobby Willie, which was also posted on Facebook on July 10. 

Under the program, coaches, administrators and technicians are expected to go for interactive sessions to Europe for the sole purpose of understanding and learning how football is being managed.

Upon their return, beneficiaries will be expected to impact football development through knowledge sharing and technical training in their respective countries.

But the the authenticity of the FA’s release hasn’t been independently verified with UEFA given their history of engaging in mere publicity stunts to impress Liberians.

On March 2, the LFA announced the arrival of “a high-powered two-man UEFA delegation that was due in Monrovia for a visit from March 22–23 to discuss cooperation”.

The delegation was to be headed by UEFA acting secretary-general Theodore Theodoridis and integrity officer Urs Kluser of the legal affairs and disciplinary services.

Willie, who authored the release, asserted that the visit followed discussions Bility held with FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the margins of the FIFA congress in Zurich, Switzerland in February.

 “Bility reportedly played an influential role in deciding the outcome of the Presidential polls,” Willie wrote.

When questions were raised about the veracity of the information, the LFA didn’t hesitate to announce the cancelation of the visit due “to the coordinated terrorist attacks that killed 31 people and injured 300 more in Brussels, Belgium” on March 22.

But UEFA is headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland and Belgium, who were directly victimized, move a planned international friendly with Portugal from Brussels to Leiria in Portugal.  

 “I met the same people that should’ve come here. We are trying to put together a good program for Liberia where we will get footballs, logistics and technical assistance from UEFA to Liberia,” said Bility in a renewed assurance.

He said the partnership will see an exchange in marketing, administration, officiating, media and publicity and stadium management among others.

 “UEFA is also giving-up its portion of the FAP [financial assistance program from FIFA] which is US$250,000. That will come to Africa. So Africa will get US$500, 000,” Bility added.

Despite Bility’s professed connection and or influence, Infantino is yet to visit Liberia as he intends to meet senior football association leaders from across Africa on a two-day working visit to Nigeria.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said on Monday Infantino will arrive in Abjua on 24 July and will meet “a legion of African FA Presidents”.

Infantino will be accompanied by FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura. NFF President Amaju Pinnick met Infantino for talks in Paris on July 10.

“The FIFA President and secretary-general will arrive in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Sunday 24th July on a two-day working visit to Nigeria,” Pinnick said on the NFF website.

The statement said the FIFA officials will meet Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and hold a meeting “with a legion of African FA Presidents, who are expected in Nigeria” at the same time.

Nigeria is seen as one of the giants of African football even though the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the second time in succession.

The NFF has been dogged by factional disputes over its leadership and FIFA has threatened Nigeria with suspension from international competition because of irregularities in the leadership voting process.

Monrovia – The General Secretary of Europe’s Football Governing body (UEFA) Theodore Theodoridis arrives in Liberia this Tuesday with a two member high powered delegation. The UEFA delegation will be in Liberia from March 22 to 23, 2016 to discuss UEFA’s cooperation with the Liberia Football Association.

The delegation that will be headed   by General Secretary Theodoridis will include Urs Kluser Integrity Officer, Legal Affairs/Disciplinary Services. A release from the LFA said the two man UEFA delegation will discuss future cooperation with the Liberian FA in all aspect of football development.

The delegation will visit the LFA Technical Center under construction in Careysburg, the future home of the LFA in Congo Town, the Antoinette Tubman Stadium and pay a courtesy visit to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The UEFA General Secretary and delegation will then join LFA President Musa Hassan Bility and LFA Executives for a discussion before addressing the local football media.

The coming of the UEFA delegation to Liberia followed discussions held between LFA President Musa Bility and newly elected FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the margins of February’s FIFA Congress in Zurich.

The LFA President reportedly played an influential role in deciding the outcome of the FIFA Presidential pools.  LFA President Musa Bility is excited about the upcoming visit and said it will help Liberia reach a higher mark in its football development program.