For all the success achieved, Didier Drogba’s brilliant career is one of the stories in which the main character must go through several heavy obstacles.
Born and raised in the crowded metropolis of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba left Africa at the age of five, Drogba was sent to France to live with his uncle, Michel Goba, a professional footballer who ran his career in the second caste of French football.
The economic crisis that was happening in Ivory Coast made his mother forced to send her child to France. Drogba met his uncle at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris. After a few months the child lived in France, Drogba’s parents thought that Drogba would only focus on education and not make football a top priority. Meanwhile, Goba, which made football his job, did not agree on that idea and wanted Drogba became a footballer. After discussing with his parents, Goba finally put Drogba in a football academy without ignoring academic needs.
Drogba focused on completing his education while football only became his a part-time activity. He continued his education to get a bachelor’s degree at the University of Maine and began to put a little focus on playing football at Le Mans.
In pursuing his football career, Drogba faced many rough ways. He must work extra to be able to enter the Le Mans core squad. A few years after, his talent began to appear. Many people thought that Drogba was a rough diamond that struggled with the life of a professional footballer. Until finally the elite French club, Marseille, sniffed his talent and dared to pay more than 4 million euros to get his talent. Showing off a slick performance at Marseille, Drogba immediately took Chelsea’s attention until he finally joined that London team.
Playing brilliantly and becoming an important player in the team he defended, Drogba was believed to be the spearhead of Ivory Coast. This was where the historical story began.
Didier Drogba is a legend. He was the first African player to score 100 goals in the English Premier League. Apart from being the pride of the African continent, Drogba has left an unforgettable historical trail for the people of Ivory Coast in particular and the world community in general.
Because of his fame in Ivory Coast, there is one area in Abidjan that uses the name Drogbakro. The region’s leader, Kouassi Augustin, claimed that all residents in Drogbakro greatly idolized the figure of Didier Drogba.
Until finally, in October 2005, Drogba and his friends managed to defeat Sudan 3-1 and bring Ivory Coast to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. During that excitement, the players, however, had deep concerns since the Ivory Coast was involved in a civil war that killed four thousand people and forced more than one million people to evacuate themselves.
The captain of the Ivory Coast national team invited the media to enter the dressing room and hand over the microphone to Drogba who had become a national icon.
They kneel down in front of the camera and say,
“Citizens of Ivory Coast from the north, south, center, and west. We kneel begging you to forgive one another. Big countries like Ivory Coast cannot continue to sink in chaos. Please put your weapons and forgive each other. “
Drogba’s request in the locker room was not in vain. The government and the opposing forces decided to hold their ceasefires starting a peace. In early 2007, both parties signed an official peace agreement that marked the end of the civil war.
Besides being remembered for stopping the civil war in his country, Didier Drogba will also be remembered as one of the sharpest strikers ever.
