African football icon Abedi Ayew Pele recently shared his experience of building his first house, a milestone achieved nearly two decades ago.
He revealed that the funds came from his earnings in Qatar, where he signed his initial professional contract.
After transferring from Real Tamale United (RTU) in Tamale to a club in Qatar, Pele noted that while RTU received over $50,000 from the transfer, he was only given a job with the team.
Talking about when he turned professional, he told Bola Ray in an exclusive interview: “We went to Libya in 1982 and then we came down, so I will say that at the age 17 or 17-and-half I had turned professional, and my first professional country was to go to Qatar for about two years, I won every trophy.
“AI earned US$10,000 at the time (after time in Qatar), that was 20 to 22 years ago and RTU had a signing-on fee of 50 to 60,000 dollars… I think it was a huge amount.
I had no amount for signing but I had my salaries and bonuses.
“When I came I built a small house at Alajo getting to the railway line, so at the age of 17-18, I had built my first house,” he disclosed.