Abedi Pele, one of the great pioneers of Africa football, is travelling around Africa with the Afcon Trophy - taking soccer to the people. Standard Bank is sponsoring this tour - below is Abedi's account of his recent travels on the continent:

The night must have gone by in a flash, because the events of the day before were still playing on my mind when, on Saturday morning, I embarked on day two of the Trophy Tour in Uganda.

Early morning trips took me and the rest of the group to two radio stations.
The Red Channel, which is part of the media complex of the national broadcaster - Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. Here the young host managed to squeeze the story of my first days as a footballer. After I had answered questions from callers from all over the country, the photo sessions with staff wanting a picture of the trophy quickly followed.

At Sanyu FM, host Ahmed Hussein and his listeners soon dug into my footballing history, referring to my three-in-a-row African Footballer of the Year titles between 1991 and 1993 and even challenging my colleague and new friend, Local Ambassador Mark Ssali, to briefly analyse the 1993 European Champions League final between my team Marseille and AC Milan. Ssali summed the game up as a battle between ‘two great left feet’, saying that I had prevailed over the great Dejan Savicevic by setting up the winning goal that night because ‘the end justifies the means’. Good going mate!

At both radio stations, the talk inevitably shifted to the heroic feats of my son Andre Ayew and his teammates who the previous night, helped Ghana become the first African country to win the U-20 World Cup. I was asked questions like: was I over the moon? Was I perhaps a little jealous that my son had done what I never did, and that the current senior national team of Ghana had reached two consecutive World Cup finals and I never played in one?

My response was simple. I am not a greedy man and I am more than satisfied with all the team and individual accolades I won in a very rewarding career. Of course I am happy for my son and for the senior Black Stars for what they are achieving now, and I am desperate to see that in both cases they managed to take it to the next level.

After the indoor comfort of radio studios, it was time to take the Trophy Tour outdoors, and our motorcade were soon speeding through Kampala’s streets to a football pitch at the Aga Khan High School where youngsters from Kampala Kids League (KKL), supported by Stanbic Uganda and Proline Academy, were due to play a football match.

I was amazed at the technical skills of these Ugandan kids aged between 10 and 12 years, and taken aback by their football awareness at such a tender age.

I told the men behind both initiatives (KKL’s Trevor Dudley and Proline’s Mujib Kasule) as much, and revealed to the talented kids that I had joined my own national team as a 16-yr-old and won the African Cup Of Nations just a year later in 1982, and that they had the potential to do the same for Uganda.

Uganda hasn’t reached the Nations Cup finals since 1978 when I watched, admired and idolised their incredible team, and I told the kids they could end that run if they added determination, ambition and mental toughness to their obvious talent.

In the evening, the trophy and I were treated to a very sumptuous dinner by Stanbic Bank Exco and staff at an amazing revolving restaurant at the top of the Golf Course Hotel. I enjoyed taking in all the sights and sounds of Kampala at night, along with our meal of course.

Time to get tucked in my bed ahead of the final day of the Ugandan tour…

For more information on the Ugandan tour, see:
http://www.blog.standardbank.com/sponsorship/uganda-trophy-tour-day-1
http://www.blog.standardbank.com/sponsorship/uganda-trophy-tour-day-3