DBasia.news – Didier Drogba has enjoyed a great reputation throughout his playing career, becoming a Chelsea legend after nine years at Stamford Bridge.
However, his achievements there, or even when he starred in the victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final which became the Blues’ only trophy, are incomparable to what he did in his country, Ivory Coast.
Back in the 2000s, the Ivorian football legend was able to stop a civil war that was happening in his home country, as reported by the BBC.
On October 8, 2005, Drogba played for Ivory Coast against Sudan in a qualifier for the 2006 World Cup, they needed to advance from their closest rivals, Cameroon who played Egypt the same night, to progress.
Ivory Coast won the game, with Premier League stars Drogba, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure making up the squad. After the final whistle, Cameroon were held to a 1-1 draw by Egypt, with only a few minutes remaining and a penalty awarded.
Luckily for Drogba and his team, Cameroon striker, Pierre Wome missed a penalty, allowing Ivory Coast to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history.
The players celebrated the qualification wildly, but it wasn’t long before Drogba’s attention turned to the civil war that had raged in his country since 2002.
Speaking after the game, he said: “The people of Ivory Coast. From the north, south, central and west, we proved today that all Ivorians can live side by side and play together with the same objective, to qualify for the World Cup.”
“We promise you that the celebration will bring everyone together, today we ask you,” he continued as the players took a knee. “A country in Africa with so much wealth must not fall into war. Please lay down your weapons and hold elections.”
The players then got up and cheered: “We want to have fun, so stop shooting your guns!”
Drogba’s speech had a huge effect, eventually helping the two warring factions get to the negotiating table where a truce was finally signed.
A year later, Drogba said that the international match against Madagascar would be held in northern Ivory Coast, Bouake or areas controlled by the rebels.
Ivory Coast also won on June 3, 2007 with a score of 5-0 over Ivory Coast and Drogba who also scored at the end of the match was paraded around the field. This moment increasingly united the people of Ivory Coast.