Nov 1

Nov 1 Didier Drogba: One of the Great Premier League Strikers

The Incredible Life and Career of Didier Drogba

The Premier League is one of the UK’s biggest exports and is one of the most popular and most-watched sporting leagues across the world.

Didier Drogba.jpg — Didier Drogba celebrating yet another trophy with Chelsea

In the 2018-2019 season, the Spurs vs Arsenal game saw attendances of over 80,000, and average attendance at all games was almost 40,000, second only to the German Bundesliga.

Football was ever the world’s most popular sport after all.

Premier League matches are broadcast to 2012 territories, reaching a potential 643 million homes and 4.7 billion people. Over half of the world’s population.

Even in the US, where soccer trails a long way behind more popular sports like (American) football, baseball and basketball, the 2020-2021 Premier League season attracted 400,000 viewers.

The huge reach of the Premier League on the global scene has attracted footballing talent from around the world.

It has helped launch many a career, including Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Peter Schmeichel (Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City), and Luis Suarez (Liverpool) to name but a few.

One player who will always retain legendary status amongst Chelsea fans is Didier Drogba and he has certainly earned the respect.

Drogba’s Early Life and Career in France

Hailing from Ivory Coast, Drogba moved to France at the age of five, settling in Anthony, a suburb of Paris.

Drogba made his footballing debut at 18 for the semi-professional club Levallois, but it was only when he was 21 that he signed for his first professional team, Ligue 2 French club Le Mans.

Marred by injuries and struggling to cope with the demands of the training schedule, Drogba showed some flashes of brilliance, scoring five goals in 21 appearances in his second season.

He left Le Mans in 2001 for Ligue 1 club Guincamp, where he helped the club first avoid relegation, and then place seventh, a first for the club.

He then transferred for £3.3 million to Olympique de Marseille, also Ligue 1, a huge step up from his £80,000 transfer fee to Guincamp. Here he won the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNPF) Player of the Year award and scored five goals in the Champions League and six in the UEFA Cup.

Drogba in the Premier League

In 2004 Drogba was bought by Premier League team Chelsea for a record £24 million. He stayed at Chelsea for 8 years, until 2012, solidifying his place as Chelsea’s number one player.

In his first two seasons, he helped Chelsea win back-to-back Premier League titles, becoming only the second club ever to achieve this feat.

The 2006-2007 season was a success for Drogba, scoring 33 times (more than the two previous seasons combined) and winning the Golden Boot.

He managed two hat-tricks in domestic and European games, and his winning goal in the FA Cup against Manchester United made him the only player ever to score in both English domestic finals in the same season and win both.

“I kept saying to people, ‘will somebody please shoot Drogba?’ because his performances were unbelievable,” Sir Alex Ferguson

By 2009, Drogba scored his 100th goal for Chelsea, scoring eight goals in 11 appearances, and third goal in three games with his glancing header against Blackburn.

His hat-trick in Chelsea’s 8-0 defeat of Wigan Athletic helped him win his second Golden Boot for the season. He also went on to score in the FA Cup final, becoming the only player to have scored in all (six) English Cup Finals that he played in.

In the 2011-12 season, Drogba’s last with Chelsea, saw him lead Chelsea to glory in both the FA Cup and Champions League.

Drogba scored the winning goal against Liverpool to secure the FA Cup, and in the Champions League scored the equaliser that led to penalties, as well as the winning penalty in a 4-3 victory over Bayern Munich.

In November 2012 a poll of 20,000 fans carried out by Chelsea Magazine named Drogba Chelsea’s greatest ever player.

“They’re crying. It was Drogba. It was the angels, it was the heavens, it was the stars, it was the gods, it was everything for Chelsea,” Gary Neville

Life after Chelsea

Drogba left Chelsea in 2012 and headed to Shanghai Shenua, joining former Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka.

He then spent time playing for Turkish team Galatasaray and won his first title with the team in May 2013.

In 2015 he moved to Montreal, and on his first start for the team scored the team’s first-ever hat-trick; it was also a perfect hat-trick, namely one with each foot and one header.

He was never able to emulate the success he had with Chelsea, and moved to Phoenix Rising FC in the US, also becoming a minority owner of the club and becoming the first-ever player-owner in footballing history.

He helped the team to victory and Phoenix won the USL Western Conference but was unable to win the Championship game. At the age of 40 in 2018, Drogba retired from playing.

Drogba’s International Career

Throughout his professional career playing for national clubs, Drogba was a key fixture of Ivory Coast International team.

Drogba captained Ivory Coast to their first-ever FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006. Also in 2006, he led Ivory Coast to their second Africa Cup of Nations final, securing a record 12-11 win on penalties against Cameroon, but losing 4-2 on penalties to Egypt in the final.

Drogba led Ivory Coast to the FIFA World Cup again in 2010, won by Spain, and 2014, and in 2014 won his 100th International Cap for Ivory Coast. In 2014 Drogba announced his retirement from international football with 65 goals in 105 appearances. Drogba also used his position to raise awareness of the civil unrest in his home country.