Johannesburg: George Weah has the kind of charming personality that easily attracts people towards him. A well-dressed and handsome man in his mid 40s, the former World Player of the Year-turned-politician has a cheerful appearance and a permanent smile on his face.

On Monday, when The Telegraph approached him on the sidelines of a Fifa function, it was the Liberia legend who fired off the initial questions: “Oh, you come from India… I know it. It’s the land of Gandhi. But tell me, Is Indian football good? Are they doing well,” he asked.

Being team No.133 in the Fifa rankings is certainly not a sign of remarkable improvement and Weah, too, was not impressed.

“I see, you have a long way to go,” said Weah. “But what are you doing about that?”

When told that the India seniors have a top British coach, Weah said: “Oh, you also have a foreign coach like the African teams. I wish you do well under him and come up.”

Weah, the only World Player of the Year not to have played the World Cup because of his country’s failure to qualify, is a strong believer of the ‘Africa for Africans’ theory.

“I shouldn’t say it... but most of the foreign coaches are here to make quick money, nothing else. I don’t want to name anyone, but how many of them are developing players?

“They all come here, enjoy and that’s it,” said the former AC Milan and Chelsea hitman, who unsuccessfully ran for his country’s presidency in 2005.

“Let me tell you one thing… for any country, it is always better to have a local coach. They know the culture, the language, the food habits and the style.

“If you look at Africa, our own coaches have always fared better than the European ones. We have to believe in ourselves, that’s the priority,” said Weah, who, by his own admission, owes a lot to French trainer Arsene Wenger for making him one of the greatest players on earth.

The Arsenal coach was in Monaco when Weah joined the French club at the young age of 22.

Weah claimed French legend Michel Platini was also of the view that African nations shouldn’t rely too much on foreign coaches.

“We were watching the Brazil versus Ivory Coast match the other day. He (Platini) turned towards me and said African teams won’t gain much from European coaches. Don’t forget that it came from someone who is the president of Uefa,” the three-time African Footballer of the Year said.

Weah has already appealed to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to set up an institution for coaching young and upcoming African coaches.

In the ongoing World Cup, except for Algeria, who were coached by Rabah Saadane, all other African nations were led by foreign coaches.