DIDIER DROGBA

Didier Drogba

Didier Yves Drogba Tébily was born on,11 March 1978 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.He is an Ivorian footballer who plays in the centre forward position. He currently plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League and is the captain and all-time leading scorer of the Côte d'Ivoire national football team. He scored more goals for Chelsea than any other foreign player and is currently Chelsea's ninth highest goal scorer of all time.

As a young child Drogba moved to France. After playing in youth teams, Drogba made his professional debut aged 18 for Ligue 2 club Le Mans. A late bloomer, he signed his first professional contract aged 21 but it was not until the 2002–03 season that he realised his potential, scoring 17 goals in 34 appearances in Ligue 1 for Guingamp. During the same season he made his first international appearance for Côte d'Ivoire in September and scored his first international goal the following February. He moved to Olympique de Marseille in 2003 for £3.3 million and his prolific ways continued, finishing as the third highest scorer in the league with 19 goals and making it to the 2004 UEFA Cup Final.

Drogba moved to Chelsea the following season for a record breaking fee of £24 million, making him the most expensive Côte d'Ivoire player in history. In addition, Drogba scored decisive goals in the 2005 FA Community Shield and League Cup Final and helped the club win their first ever Premier League title. Drogba came to prominence as one of the world's foremost strikers in 2006 as he won the league title with Chelsea again and captained the national team for the first time. In the 2006 World Cup he scored Côte d'Ivoire's first ever goal of the competition and he was chosen as the 2006 African Footballer of the Year. The next season he finished as top scorer in the 2006–07 Premier League with 20 goals and also scored the winning goals in the 2007 League Cup and FA Cup finals.

Away from the pitch, Drogba is known for his charity work and was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2007. He has three children with his Malian wife, Alla.


Personal information

Full name Didier Yves Drogba Tébily
Date of birth 11 March 1978 (1978-03-11) (age 31)
Place of birth Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1/2 in)
Playing position Striker

Club information

Current club Chelsea
Number 11
Youth career
1996–1997 Levallois
1997–1998 Le Mans

Senior career*

Years Club Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Le Mans 064 0(12)
2002–2003 Guingamp 045 0(20)
2003–2004 Marseille 035 0(19)
2004– Chelsea 142 0(61)
Total 286 (112)

National team

2002– Côte d'Ivoire 060 0(41)

Early life

Didier Drogba was born in Côte d'Ivoire and at the age of five he was sent to France by his parents to live with his uncle, Michel Goba, a professional footballer. However, Drogba soon became homesick and returned to Abidjan after three years. His mother nicknamed him "Tito", after president Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia whom she admired greatly. He played football every day in a car park in the city but his return to Côte d'Ivoire was short lived. Both of his parents lost their jobs and he again returned to live with his uncle. In 1991, his parents also travelled to France, first to Vannes and then settling in 1993 at Antony in the Paris suburbs, at which point the 15-year-old Drogba returned to live with them and his siblings. It was here that he began playing team football more frequently, joining a local youth side.

2008–09 Season in Chelsea

Drogba suffered a string of injuries early on in the season and struggled to regain fitness, missing games from August to November due to knee problems. He scored his first goal of the season in mid-November but there was little reason to celebrate: he incurred disciplinary action and a three match ban for throwing a coin back into the stands and Chelsea suffered a League Cup defeat against Burnley.Drogba scored his second goal of the season in a 2–1 victory against CFR Cluj in the UEFA Champions League, while his first Premier League goal of the season came in a 2–0 win against West Bromwich Albion in late December 2008.Having missed many games through injury and suspension, Drogba had lost his first team place and manager Scolari favoured playing Nicolas Anelka as a lone striker rather than pairing the two. However, he resolved to regain his position in the squad and Chelsea remained keen to keep the Ivorian.

Upon the temporary appointment of Guus Hiddink in early February following the sacking of Scolari, Drogba enjoyed a rejuvenation of sorts, returning to his rich goal-scoring form with four goals in five games after the new manager took over.[34][35] His revival in form saw him net twice against Bolton Wanderers, and four times in four Champions League matches, one in each leg of the last sixteen and quarter final of the competition against Juventus and Liverpool respectively, with these goals ensuring Chelsea's passage into the semi-finals. Just four days after his Champions League heroics, Drogba scored a late winner in the FA Cup semi-final match against Arsenal after Frank Lampard's superb pass found Drogba and he carefully rounded Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski before slotting into an empty net. Drogba also caused controversy after Chelsea's Champions League semi-final defeat at the hands of FC Barcelona. Feeling that many decisions had gone against Chelsea, substituted Drogba confronted referee Tom Henning Øvrebø after the final whistle. He received a yellow card in the process and was recorded shouting "it's a fucking disgrace" into a television camera. On 17 June 2009 UEFA subsequently handed him a six game European ban with the final two games suspended.The ban then was cut down by 1 match after an appeal by Chelsea F.C In the 2009 FA Cup Final he scored Chelsea's first and equalising goal as they went on to win 2-1.[39] This was his sixth goal in a major cup final in England.

Although Drogba had previously expressed his desire to switch clubs, he decided to remain with the Blues under new coach Carlo Ancelotti and sign a new contract.

2009-10 Season in Chelsea

Drogba began the season in fine form for Chelsea, netting a penalty during a shoot-out in the Community Shield over Manchester United, before scoring twice in a 2-1 victory over Hull City. Drogba earned himself an assist when he was fouled in the area to give Chelsea a penalty, which Frank Lampard duly converted, in a 3-1 victory over Sunderland. In Chelsea's third game of the season against West-London rivals Fulham, Drogba scored his third goal of the season. Drogba scored his fourth goal of the season, against Stoke City; Chelsea ended winning the game 2-1 with a late strike from Malouda.He added a fifth at home against London rivals Tottenham on 20th September. This was his 99th goal for the club in all competitions.Drogba was again important in the 2-0 win over title rivals Liverpool on 4 October. He was involved in both goals, setting up Anelka and Malouda.

HONORS

Club

England Chelsea
o FA Premier League: 2004-05, 2005-06
o FA Cup: 2006-07, 2008-09
o FA Community Shield: 2005, 2009
o Football League Cup: 2004-05, 2006-07

Individual

* Onze d'Or: 2004
* UEFA Cup Top Scorer: 2004
* Ligue 1 Player of the Year: 2004
* Ivorian Footballer of the Year: 2006, 2007
* Barclays Player of the Month: April 2005
* African Footballer of the Year: 2006
* Premier League Top Scorer: 2007
* UEFA Team of the Year: 2007
* PFA Team of the Year: 2007
* FIFPro World XI: 2007
* Ivory Coast all-time Top Scorer