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André Morgan Rami Ayew (born December 17, 1989 in Seclin, France), is a French-born Ghanaian international football player who currently plays for Ligue 2 club AC Arles-Avignon on loan from Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille. He is often referred to as simply Dédé.
Ayew was born in Lille, France, when his father was playing Professional football at OSC Lille and has dual French-Ghanaian nationality. His father was the great Abedi Pele. The teenage prodigy has long been touted as one of the best youngsters in France and received four call-ups into the French National Youth team, but was prevented from joining them because of minor injuries. He began his career in 2003 under his father Abedi Pele by Nania F.C. and played with his team by the U-19 youth cup in Altstetten 2004
He is the son of legendary Olympique de Marseille and former Ghanaian maestro and captain Abedi Pelé. The teenage prodigy is keen to emulate his father, who also won his first Ghana cap as a young 17 year old in the 1982 African Cup of Nations and won the African Footballer of the Year award three consecutive times in the 1990s as the captain of the Black Stars. “Obviously my first choice is to play for my country, for the people of Ghana and to represent Africa in the right way in the eyes of the World.
“Every father wants his son to follow in his footsteps and if God permits I want to better what my father did for our country and Africa. “But if the country that my father did everything for doesn’t give me the opportunity, I have to respect the French coaches who have shown confidence in me”.
After playing so well at Youth level and making it into the professional l’OM team, a senior International call up was imminent. On 7 August 2007, young 17 year old André was called up by Ghana Coach Claude Le Roy for a FIFA International friendly match against Senegal in the New Den Stadium in London, England on 21 August 2007.He made his debut for Ghana after coming on as a substitute in the 1–1 draw game.
He was selected for Ghana’s 2008 African Cup of Nations Squad and will wear the number 12 jersey.
In the 2009 edition of the U20 African Youth Cup in Rwanda, Dede captained the Ghana Black Stars to a gold medal. He scored 2 goals and played in every match even though he battled with injury during the tournament. He will lead his team to the World edition of the tournament in Egypt later in 2009.
As an inspirational captain of the Black Satellites (the Ghana U-20 side), Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew has inspired his colleagues by cheering them up when their morale is down. He powered the Satellites into the quarter finals with an equalizer from a well crossed free-kick in the 32′ minute after the South African ‘Amajitas’ had taken the lead.
He inspired the Black Satellites to a well deserved 4 – 0 win over England in Ismaili, Egypt during the second group match at the Under 20 World Cup summing a good display with a cracker of a shot in the 57′ minute of the match.
Andre Ayew created history on Friday October 16 2009, becoming the first African captain to hold aloft an international World title at under 20 level. Ghana beat Brazil 4–3 on penalties kicks after a 0–0 draw. He is sure to be named among the star performers of the championship.
Andre scored his first senior team goal, coming from a header in a 1–0 win over Burkina Faso at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. He was named to Ghana’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2010 World Cup. He was later selected into the 23-man Ghana team for the 2010 World cup together with his brother Raheem Ayew. On June 12 2010, he was selected ahead of the more experienced and recent UEFA champions league winner, Sulley Muntari, for the first 11 players in Ghana’s first game against Serbia. He displayed incredible talent in that game, giving the cross that earned Ghana a penalty and its only goal in that game.
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