Jordan Ayew
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 09/2026
Personal information
Full name
Jordan Pierre Ayew
Date of birth
11 September 1991
Place of birth
Marseille, France
Height
1.82 m
(5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing: position
Striker
Club information
Current team
Sheffield United
Number
10
Youth career
Lyon Duchère
2000-2006
Marseille
2006-2009
Senior career*
Marseille
2009-2014
111x apps 14x goals
→ Sochaux (loan)
2014
17x apps 5x goals
Lorient
2014-2015
31x apps 12x goals
Aston Villa
2015-2017
51x apps 9x goals
Swansea City
2017-2019
50x apps 8x goals
→ Crystal Palace (loan)
2018-2019
20x apps 1x goal
Crystal Palace
2019-2024
175x apps 21x goals
Leicester City
2024-2026
72x apps 11x goals
Sheffield United
2026-
2x apps 0x goal
International career‡
Ghana U20
2010
1x app 1x goal
Ghana
2010-
124x apps 34x goals
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 08:25, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 05:37, 4 July 2026 (UTC))
Jordan Pierre Ayew, born 11 September 1991, is a Ghanaian international professional footballer who plays for the French Ligue 1 club Lorient.
Club career
Marseille
Ayew joined Marseille as a trainee in 2006.
He signed a 3-year professional contract with Marseille in 2009. Ayew made his debut for the senior team on 16 December 2009 in a league game, scoring the equaliser against Lorient. Marseille went on to win the game 2:1. Ayew scored his second goal against Nice at the Stade Vélodrome on 27 April 2011 in a match which saw his elder brother André Ayew score a hat-trick.
On 1 November 2011, Jordan and André both started a UEFA Champions League match for the first time against Premier League outfit Arsenal.
On 6 January 2014, he joined Ligue 1 rivals Sochaux on a loan deal until the end of the 2013-14 season.
Lorient
Ayew signed a four-year contract with Lorient on 28 July 2014. He explained that the club's style and quality of play had influenced his decision.
Aston Villa
The following year, on 27 July 2015, he joined Aston Villa on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reportedly worth around £8 million. He scored his first goal for the club on 24 October 2015, against his elder brother's team, Swansea City, in the 62nd minute. Aston Villa were relegated at the end of the 2015-16 season after earning only 17 points. However, Ayew finished as their top scorer with seven goals.
Swansea City
2016-17 season
On 31 January 2017, Jordan Ayew joined the club on a deal involving Welsh international defender Neil Taylor and add-on fees of up to £5 million if certain conditions were met, until the end of the 2019:20 season. His elder brother had played for Swansea City during the 2015-16 season and later joined him in the 2018 winter transfer window. Ayew made his debut on 12 February 2017 in a 2:0 victory over Leicester City, coming on for Fernando Llorente in the 72nd minute.
In the final match of the season, Ayew scored his first goal for Swansea, opening the scoring in a 2:1 comeback victory over West Bromwich Albion. He played a key role in helping Swansea avoid relegation, appearing in 14 matches, starting nine, and providing three assists.
In the 2017:18 season, on 22 August 2017, Ayew was named man of the match after scoring a 20-yard strike and assisting Tammy Abraham's debut goal in Swansea's EFL Cup match against MK Dons.
The news outlet BBC described his 20-yard strike as a tremendous effort. Ayew scored his first goal of the 2017-18 season on 26 August 2017 to help the Swans to a 2:0 victory over his future club, Crystal Palace. On 17 January 2018, he scored the opening goal in the Swans' 2:1 FA Cup replay victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
At the end of his second and only full season with the club, he played 44 matches in all competitions, scoring 11 goals, seven of which came in the league. He finished the season as the club's top goalscorer and was voted Players' Player of the Season.
The solo goal he scored against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17 January 2018 in the FA Cup won the club's goal of the season award. Despite his performances throughout the season, Swansea were relegated to the Championship. This was the fourth time he had been a club's top goal scorer, but the club was still relegated at the end of the season.
Crystal Palace
2018-19 season
On transfer deadline day in August 2018, Ayew joined Crystal Palace on loan for the 2018–19 season. He made his debut on 1 September 2018, starting in Palace's 2:0 loss to Southampton.
On 15 September, he put in an impressive performance against Huddersfield Town, providing the assist for Wilfried Zaha's goal and earning Palace a 1:0 victory. He was praised for his pressing and hold-up play, which helped bring others into play and allowed the other attackers to create chances.
On 2 January 2019, he scored his first league goal for Palace, netting the opener in their 2:0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three days later, he came on in the 68th minute for Jairo Riedewald and scored the winning goal in the 86th minute against Grimsby Town in the FA Cup.
In the 2019-20 season, Ayew (9) played for Crystal Palace against Manchester United in 2021.
On 25 July 2019, he made the move permanent with a £2.5m transfer from Swansea City on a three-year deal. He scored his first goal of the season on 24 August 2019 against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Against the run of play, he latched onto Jeffrey Schlupp's flick-on to net the opener as Crystal Palace secured a historic 2:1 victory.
On Boxing Day 2019, Ayew scored the winning goal in stoppage time as Crystal Palace came from behind to defeat West Ham United 2:1. This took Ayew's Premier League goal tally to 21, with 20 of these having been scored in the second half.
On 20 June 2020, he scored to help the Eagles defeat Bournemouth 2:0, making him the highest-scoring Ghanaian player in Premier League history with 25 goals. He surpassed Tony Yeboah, who scored 24 goals while playing for Leeds United. At the end of the season, Ayew was Crystal Palace's top scorer with nine goals and won the club's Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season and Goal of the Season awards.
In the 2020-21 season, Ayew scored his only goal in a 4:1 victory over Leeds United. He then went 43 games without scoring before netting the equaliser in the 65th minute to secure a 2:2 Premier League draw for Crystal Palace against Southampton on 16 December 2021.
On 4 April 2022, he scored the second goal in a 3:0 home victory over Arsenal at Selhurst Park. By the end of the 2021-22 season, he had played in 31 league matches, scoring three goals and providing three assists.
In June 2022, he signed a contract extension keeping him at the club until 2023. Ayew scored his first goal of the 2022:23 season, as well as his first goal since his contract extension, on New Year's Eve. This ended his goal drought, which saw him fail to score in 13 starts across 15 matches. He scored the opening goal to help Crystal Palace secure a 2:0 victory over Bournemouth.
On 9 April 2023, he scored twice, inspiring Crystal Palace to a 5:1 away victory against Leeds United. By the end of the 2022-23 season, Ayew had played in all 38 league matches, scoring four goals and providing three assists.
2023-24 season
On 1 November 2023, Ayew signed a contract extension until 2025.
On 27 February 2024, he made his 200th appearance for Crystal Palace in all competitions, marking the milestone with a man-of-the-match performance that included scoring one goal and providing an assist in a 3:0 victory over Burnley.
A few days later, he was named the Crystal Palace Men's Player of the Month for February.
Leicester City
Leicester City signed Ayew on 23 August 2024 on a two-year contract. He made his debut for the club the following day in a 2:1 defeat to Fulham, coming on for Bobby De Cordova-Reid. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4:0 win against Tranmere Rovers in the EFL Cup.
On 19 October, he scored his first league goal for the club, netting the winner in stoppage time against Southampton. However, Leicester City endured successive relegation campaigns, dropping from the Premier League to the EFL Championship and then to EFL League One. This took Ayew's total career relegations to five across five clubs.
On 24 May 2026, the club announced that the player would be released following relegation.
Sheffield United
On 8 September 2026, he joined EFL Championship club Sheffield United on a deal until the end of the season.
International career
In June 2014, he was selected for the Ghanaian squad at the 2014 World Cup. In Ghana's final warm-up match before the tournament in Brazil on 9 June 2014, Ayew came on as a first-half substitute for the injured Majeed Waris, going on to score a hat-trick in a 4:0 victory over South Korea.
Ayew was part of the Ghanaian team that won the silver medal at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea after losing to the Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout on 8 February 2015.
He was also in the Ghanaian squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, which was eliminated at the group stage.
In January 2024, he was named in the 27-man squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.
He scored two penalties in his 100th international cap, in a match that ended in a 2:2 draw against Mozambique in the final group stage match of the African competition.
He played and scored in the 2026 World Cup qualifier on 6 June 2024, when Ghana beat Mali 2:1. He also scored a hat-trick when the Black Stars beat the Central African Republic on 10 June 2024 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. In November 2024, Ghana coach Otto Addo appointed Ayew as captain ahead of the crucial AFCON 2025 qualification matches.
On 2 June 2026, he was named in the 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
He featured in his 120th international match on the same day, in a 1:1 friendly draw with Wales, equalling the record for the most international appearances by a Ghanaian player, previously set by his brother, André Ayew.
On 17 June, he made his record-breaking 121st appearance for Ghana in the team's World Cup opening match against Panama, becoming the fourth player to represent Ghana at three different World Cups. Aged 34 years and 185 days, he surpassed Denis Odoi as the oldest player to feature for Ghana at a World Cup.
Personal life
Ayew is the son of the Ghanaian footballer Abedi Pelé and Maha Ayew. He comes from a family of footballers. His father was a Ghanaian international, and his brothers André and Ibrahim, as well as his uncles Kwame and Sola, have also played professionally. He also has a sister named Imani.