Welcome to Last Word on Football’s ‘Families in Football’ series. Over the next few weeks, we take a look at siblings, cousins and even parents and children that have played the beautiful game. Some have played cup finals together while others have been on opposing sides. Today, we look at Andre and Jordan Ayew
Families in Football: Andre and Jordan Ayew
Andre Ayew
Andre Ayew is the older brother of Jordan Ayew and the son of three-time African Footballer of the Year Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew. Andre himself was named BBC African Footballer of the Year in 2011. He began his career playing for 1860 Munich, following in the footsteps of his father. It would not be the last time that he followed his father’s path having played for Nania in Ghana where his father was club chairman, before joining Marseille.
Ayew made his Marseille debut against Valenciennes in a 2-1 defeat where he came on for the last minute of the match. The forward played against Porto for his Champions League debut and although they lost the game, he was praised for his performance, before making his first league start against Lyon. Although he only made 13 appearances, he caught the eye of clubs around Europe and was linked with Arsenal but Marseille were not interested in selling the player.
Andre was sent on loan in the 2008/09 season, joining Lorient as his playing time was to be limited thanks to the arrivals at Marseille of Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Wiltord, Bakari Kone and Mamadou Samassa. He played 22 times in the league but following the end of the season, where he was mainly used as a substitute, he returned to Marseille.
Another loan move followed as he dropped down a division to play for Ligue 2 side Arles-Avignon for the 2009/10 season where he was utilised in his favoured right-wing position and enjoyed a positive time at the club, helping to assist them in promotion Ligue 1 by scoring four goals in his 26 appearances. His form earned him a recall to Marseille with Didier Deschamps promising him more game time and in 2010 he signed a new three-year deal. When Loic Remy arrived, Ayew may have been concerned that he would miss out again but he was a starter. In addition, Andre was nominated for the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season award as well as being voted Marseille’s best player of the 2010/11 season.
From 2015, Ayew would enter a period of his career where he moved around a lot, starting with a free transfer to Swansea City where he signed a four-year deal and scored in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea on his debut and three times in his first four appearances. But just over a year later, he would be on the move once more, joining West Ham United for £20.5 million which was a then club-record fee. By 2018 he was back in Wales with Swansea once more but then went on loan to Fenerbahce.
Ayew would then once more replicate his father’s footballing journey and joined Qatar club Al Sadd SC who his father had joined 39 years earlier.
At international level, Andre has made 100 appearances for Ghana, scoring 22 times. At youth level, the forward won the U19 Africa Cup of Nations and the U20 World Cup, with both achievements coming in 2009. He also came runner up in the 2010 and 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Jordan Ayew
Jordan Ayew also spent time at Marseille where he joined as a trainee in 2006 and went on to sign his first professional contract in 2009. He scored against Lorient on his debut and his second came in a game against Nice, in which his brother Andre bagged a hat-trick. During his time in the south of France, Jordan won the 2009/10 Ligue 1 title along with three consecutive Coupe de la Ligue’s and two Trophée des Champions.
Like his brother Andre, Jordan did some moving around during his playing career and he joined Ligue 1 side Sochaux on loan for the season before moving to Lorient; the team he scored against on his debut.
12 months later, Jordan was on the move again as he headed to the Premier League and signed for Aston Villa in an £8 million deal although he was unable to stop the club from being relegated to the Championship despite being the club’s top scorer with seven goals.
In 2017 he moved to Swansea City where his brother had played on the 2015/16 season and they eventually played together at the club when Andre returned in the winter transfer window of 2018.
Crystal Palace was to be his next stop and saw one of his proudest moments when he scored in a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in a famous victory. He then set a record when he became the player with the highest ratio of goals scored in the second half of Premier League matches with 95 per cent following his goal against West Ham on Boxing Day 2019. He went on to win the Palace Player of the Season and Goal of the Season awards as he ended the season with nine goals and as Palace’s top scorers.
At international level, Jordan has turned out 73 times for Ghana where he has scored 18 goals. He was also part of the Black Stars side that came runner-up in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Games Played Together and Against
Andre and Jordan Ayew have played together 169 times for Ghana, Marseille and Swansea. Andre has netted 61 goals in games played together, including two hat-tricks for Marseille, while Jordan has been on the scoresheet 30 times, bagging three for Ghana in a 4-0 win over South Korea.
Andre has also played four times at international level with older brother Ibrahim. Jordan has never played with or against Ibrahim.
Andre and Jordan Ayew have also been on opposing sides five times. The first meeting came in a 1-1 draw between Sochaux and Marseille before Jordan netted twice in a 5-3 win for Lorient over Marseille, where Andre scored one for the visitors.
In England, Andre has been on the winning side in all three meetings. Both brothers scored when Andre’s Swans beat Jordan’s Aston Villa before Andre won both games for West Ham against his former club, with his brother now in South Wales.
Interesting Facts
Both brothers started the Champions League tie in November 2011 against Premier League side Arsenal.
Jordan scored his first goal for Villa in October 2015, playing against his brother’s club Swansea City.
With 169 games together, Andre is the teammate that Jordan has played the most amount of games with.
Andre and Jordan Ayew also have an older brother, although Ibrahim spent much of his career in Ghana. He also represented the national team seven times while father Abedi played 73 times.
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