Didier Drogba was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 1978. At just five years old he moved to France to live with his uncle Michel Goba, a professional footballer then plying his trade in the second tier. While Goba changed clubs, the young Drogba trained with youth sides. A brief return to Ivory Coast at eight was followed by a permanent move back to France at eleven.
He was a late bloomer: he made his professional debut for FC Le Mans in Ligue 2 at 21, and two years later stepped up to Ligue 1 with EA Guingamp. After a single season with Olympique Marseille, he moved to Chelsea FC in 2004, aged 26—a club he would make his own. The elegant yet powerful striker went on to win four Premier League titles and, most memorably, the Champions League in 2012. In the final against Bayern Munich, Chelsea were outclassed until Drogba headed a late equaliser to force extra time, then converted the decisive penalty in the shoot-out.
Under José Mourinho’s guidance, Chelsea embraced the villain role in world football, and few embodied that identity better than Drogba. “If I had to choose one player to go into battle with,” Mourinho once declared, “I would take Didier.” He was sent off seven times, most memorably in the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United for an elbow on Nemanja Vidic. In the 2009 semi-final loss to FC Barcelona, he lashed out at referee Tom Henning Övrebö and earned a three-match ban, while Övrebö required police protection after receiving death threats. “On the pitch, I’m a different person and sometimes I don’t recognise myself,” Drogba reflected. A hooligan on the pitch, a peacemaker off it.