Edwin Akufo is a recurring character in the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso and a tech firm billionaire from Ghana, West Africa. He inherited £1.2 billion from his late father, and he loves football. He is also a very petty man and prone to throw tantrums when things don’t go his way.
While the AFC Richmond team players are practicing a dance routine for Sharon Fieldstone's goodbye party, a private helicopter lands on their practice field, and billionaire Edwin arrives with his entourage. He meets with Rebecca Welton, Keeley Jones, Ted Lasso, and Leslie Higgins at the office and announces that he wants to buy Sam Obisanya's contract.
He wants to create a new African Football Club and Sam would be a part of it. Edwin takes Sam to a museum and a dinner at a Nigerian restaurant, offering him a position in the club, stating that Sam is one of the best football players he'd ever seen, and it will be great to have him as a part of the team. Edwin mentions that he's buying Raja Casablanca football club in Morocco, and he wants to fill it with the best African players.
The club finally win the match in a tie against Brentford F.C., and everyone is celebrating. Edwin thinks that Sam will accept his offer but he politely declines and is thankful that he was being considered, but he still has a lot of things to do in Richmond. Edwin gets upset and throws a tantrum for being rejected by Sam. He screams and vows that Sam will regret the decision - he even calls him a "medium talent". Sam is surprised to see Edwin's reaction but says nothing.
According to Higgins, Edwin is planning to make a super football league, while Trent Crimm explains that Super League is when the world's wealthiest and biggest teams decide to compete against each other. He invited many of rich football club owners, including Rupert Mannion. Rupert then invites Rebecca to a luncheon with Edwin and other owners, which she finally accepts.
It shocked Sam to see Edwin suddenly appears in his Nigerian restaurant, Ola's, especially to see the restaurant is empty. Apparently, Edwin booked in advanced pretending to be many people and then cancelled at the last minute. As usual he is with Francis, and introduce Charles Siziba, a food blogger from The Times. Charles then gives Sam backhanded compliments, along with the news that Edwin is planning to build a new Nigerian restaurant a few meters from Sam's restaurant.
He also drops a bombshell that the reason why Sam wasn't chosen as a representative player from Nigeria for International Break is because he paid off the Nigerian government $20 Million for not choosing the young player - a revenge against Sam for rejecting his offer to join his club.
At the luncheon meeting, he tells a Russian football club owner named Nicolay Alexayav to leave because of the political situation right now, he doesn't want Russia to be a part of his league. Edwin offers some proposal that he wants to make a super league by combining a lot of clubs, and only the selected rich people who can watch the games. Their goal is to make money from the games of football, and that is why he invited billionaires to join his league.
Rebecca thinks that his idea is stupid, because she remembers what Higgins had said; that it's not about the football anymore, but it's about money and it will prevent regular people to enjoy football. She manages to persuade everyone in the room not to join the league because she tells a story of the love of football from many people, including the people at the luncheon. Edwin storms off from the luncheon, along with Francis, before he threw a tantrum and food at the billionaires, including at Rebecca and Rupert.
Notes[]
- Edwin Akufo seems to know Banksy; an England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. He also hired a lot of actors in the museum and in the restaurant to charm Sam.