Drogba, Didier << DROG bah, dih dee AY >> (1978-…), was an exciting soccer star from Côte d’Ivoire. Soccer is called football in many countries. Drogba was a center forward—a mainly offensive, rather than defensive, position. Drogba ranks as one of the greatest goal scorers in international soccer history.
Drogba gained his greatest success playing for Chelsea FC, a Premier League team in England. FC stands for football club. The Premier League is England’s highest soccer league. Drogba played for Chelsea from 2004 through 2012. He helped lead Chelsea to league championships in 2005, 2006, and 2010, and to the FA Cup championship in 2007, 2009, and 2010. The FA Cup is awarded by the FA (Football Association), the body that governs English soccer. Drogba also contributed to Chelsea’s victory in the 2012 Champions League final. Drogba’s many honors include being named African Footballer of the Year in 2006 and 2009. He led the Premier League in scoring in the 2006-2007 and 2009-2010 seasons.
Didier Yves Drogba Tébily was born on March 11, 1978, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He moved to France at the age of 5 to live with his uncle, a soccer player. He returned to Côte d’Ivoire three years later, but soon went back to France, where his parents moved in 1991. Drogba began his soccer career with the semiprofessional Levallois club as a junior player in 1993. He then played professional soccer in France with Le Mans (1998-2002), Guingamp (2002-2003), and Marseille (2003-2004) before signing with Chelsea.
Drogba captained the Côte d’Ivoire national team in the 2006 World Cup competition, scoring his country’s first-ever World Cup goal. He also was the team’s captain for the 2010 World Cup competition. Drogba played for Shanghai Shenhua in 2012 and for the Galatasaray club in Turkey in 2013 before rejoining Chelsea in 2014. In 2015, Drogba joined the Montreal Impact (now called CF Montreal) of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top league in Canada and the United States. In 2017, he joined the Phoenix Rising of the United Soccer League (a third-tier league) as a player and co-owner. Drogba retired from playing soccer in 2018.
In 2005, Drogba helped arrange a cease-fire that ended five years of civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. He has also been active in charity work in his country.
