Speaking to the New York Times for the ‘Reflections on 1960, the Year of Africa’ article, Chelsea’s fourth-best goalscorer Didier Drogba opens up on his childhood in Ivory Coast, the importance of football in Africa and the way his home country looks these days.
Despite the undeniable importance of his Chelsea spell, Drogba names another career period as the best moment of his football career.
“Playing for the Ivory Coast national team was the best thing that really happened to me,” Drogba says. In the meantime, Drogba is thankful for the time he spent in France and England.
“I was born in Abidjan, and I left the Ivory Coast — and my parents — when I was 5 or 6 to live with my uncle in France, in Brittany. In our tradition, if one of your family members is in a better situation, you can send one of your sons or daughters to live with them so that they have better access to education.
“I went back to the Ivory Coast when I was 11, for two years, and after that I went back to France. I felt good in both countries.”
Back on July 20, 2004, Drogba joined Chelsea on a £24m move from Marseille. The vast majority of the Premier League community predicted the Ivorian, who had only one decent season in the Ligue 1, to be a flop.
Nevertheless, Didier went on to have an absolutely glorious career. The Ivorian made 381 appearances for Chelsea, scored 164 goals, set 11 absolute records of the club and helped the Blues to win 12 major trophies. Most importantly, ‘The Chieftain’ led the Western Londoners to their one and only so far Champions League triumph.