THE PREM ERA 65Dismissed...Drogba leaves the pitch after being sent off in the 2008 Champions League finalAt the end of the 2011-12 season,
Drogba departed Chelsea for Chinese
Super League outfit Shanghai Shenhua- but he departed in the perfect way
imaginable. First by scoring the decisive
goal in the FA Cup final in the Blues’ 2-1
victory over Liverpool, then converting
the winning penalty in the Champions
League final against Bayern Munich two
weeks later, having equalised in normal
time. The following November he was
voted Chelsea’s greatest-ever player.
In 2014 he returned for one more
season at Chelsea, scoring seven goals
in all competitions and lifting his fourth
Premier League title.
WHAT CAME NEXT...
point of their attack and he will take
some replacing when he leaves.IVORIAN ROOTS
Because of Drogba’s many years as
a resident of France, Lacombe once
claimed that if the French federation
had been quicker off the mark, the
big striker would now be playing for
Les Bleusatinternational level.
Such an assertion, however, fails to
take into account the immense pride
Drogba has in his Ivorian roots. His
most vivid childhood memories are
all African: the three-a-side games
he used to take part in as a youngster
in Yopougon – usually wearing his
favourite Argentina shirt – and
swimming in Lake Banko when
visiting his grandmother, Helene. To
his compatriots, he is just “Tito”, the
pet name given to him by his mother
in honour of the former Yugoslav leader
Marshal Tito. “I admired Tito’s fighting
spirit and wanted Didier to have some
too,” she explains.
And don’t the Ivorians just adore
him; the evidence leaping to the eye
every place you look, with Drogba
frescos to be found on the external
walls of buildings up and down the land.
Then there are the massed ranks of kids
in No.11 shirts and the Beatlemania-like
excitement which erupts whenever he
is back in the country. If ordering an
extra-large beer, you don’t ask for the
brand and the glass size, all you have
do is ask for “a Drogba”.
Since making his full debut forLes
Elephantsback in 2002 against SouthAmbassador for
peace...Drogba is
escorted by Ivorian
rebel forces after
the game in Bouake
Africa, Drogba has proved the
cornerstone of his country’s
international efforts, providing both
goals and leadership in helping them
to qualify for the World Cups of 2006
and 2010. But it is not only on the pitch
that he has brought influence to bear.
One of a growing band of sportsmen
who believe in the greater good, who
strive to make a better society, the
Ivorian skipper has felt sufficiently
engaged and empowered to act as
peacemaker in the long-running
civil war in his homeland.
After Ivory Coast had booked their
ticket to the World Cup finals for the
first time, in 2006, Drogba famouslywent down on his knees in front of the
TV cameras to call for an end to the
bloodshed. And, thanks to his universal
appeal, his plea for talks not guns was
heeded. Within a week a peace process
had begun, and to keep everyone onside
he put forward the suggestion that an
Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against
Madagascar should be moved from
Abidjan to Bouake, the rebel stronghold
in the north. Unifying words plus unifying
gesture equals unified country.
This commitment to a world beyond
cheap celebrity continues to be part of
his life. He has been appointed to the
Ivory Coast’s Truth and Reconciliation
commission, and in 2007 he set up
the Didier Drogba Foundation, which
has achieved some remarkable results,
particularly in its work with the Abidjan
Red Cross and fund-raising for hospitals
and orphanages in his home land.
Morepowertohim.