NOS Football•
NAC Breda has received a striking reinforcement for the second half of the Premier League season. André Ayew signs a contract for the rest of the season with the bottom line, with an option for another season.
The 36-year-old forward has gained a wealth of experience in England, France and the Ghana national team. He is a record international for his country with 120 appearances, scoring 24 times.
Ayew was a starter at three World Cups and played the final of the African Cup twice.
No club
He has been without a club in recent months after his contract with French Le Havre expired. “Ayew has missed out on several (lucrative) adventures in recent months,” reports NAC.
“André would like to help NAC in the battle for survival,” says technical director Peter Maas. “That has become very clear from our conversations. We are now in a difficult position with NAC. Ayew has also been in hot water in his career. He is a real sportsman who takes good care of himself. We think that with his experience and specific qualities he can be of value to NAC now.”
Football family
Ayew’s first steps in football life were determined by the career of his legendary father. So he started in the youth academy of 1860 Munich, where his father was under contract at the time, and he was later picked up by Olympique de Marseille.
Abedi Ayew, better known as Abedi Pele, made waves at that club in the eighties and nineties. The Ghanaian ‘Pele’ won the Champions League with Marseille in 1993, was captain of his country for many years and is seen as one of the greatest African football players of all time.
In addition to André, brother Jordan (115 international matches) and half-brother Ibrahim (7 international matches) also followed in their father’s footsteps with the national team.
The new acquisition from NAC was already there in 2010 when Ghana reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Ayew was in the starting line-up for all previous matches, but was suspended for the spicy quarter-final against Uruguay, the match that is mainly remembered for Luis Suárez’s handball and subsequent missed penalty.
For example, Uruguay, rather than Ghana, became the Dutch team’s opponent in the semi-finals. Penalties did the trick for Ayew and his men.
That was also the case in the final of the African Cup of Nations in 2025. Against the Ivory Coast of Salomon Kalou and Wilfried Bony, Ayew, like his brother Jordan, scored in the penalty shootout.
Ultimately, it was Ghanaian goalkeeper Brimah Razak himself who missed the 22nd and decisive penalty kick, after which Ayew burst into tears.
Football trauma
In 2022, Ayew played his third World Cup in Qatar. Now promoted to captain of the ‘Black Stars’, several traumas came together for him in the last match of the group stage.
Uruguay was waiting there again. And again penalties played a role.
Ghana only needed a point to advance to the next round and were awarded a penalty early in the match. Ayew got behind the ball and… missed.
Eleventh club
NAC becomes Ayew’s eleventh club. He made his debut in 2007 as a 17-year-old for Olympique Marseille, where Boudewijn Zenden also played at the time. Like his father, he would play most of his career at Marseille.
He later played in the Premier League for West Ham United, Swansea City and Nottingham Forest. Before returning to France, he also played for Fenerbahçe in Turkey and Al Sadd in Qatar.
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