Ivorian striker Didier Drogba hangs up his boots

The clinical Ivorian striker Didier Drogba decided to retire from professional football. He took the difficult decision because he wanted to return to his favourite club, Chelsea, as a coach. Drogba had already informed Montreal’s bosses of his intentions. He would not start the new MLS season, and the Canadian club would receive compensation from Chelsea for the termination of his contract, which ran until 2017.
The 37-year-old Drogba achieved great things after his first match for French side Le Mans in 1998. The striker is often described as a late bloomer, since he only started playing professionally at 21 because of a complicated family life. He never attended a football academy, which is why he found it hard to cope with his team’s training sessions at the very start of his career.
After joining Guingamp in 2002, the young striker made 11 appearances and scored 3 goals, helping his new club avoid relegation. He was not yet an impressive player, but Guingamp’s bosses gave him another chance, and in 2002/2003 he scored 17 goals in 34 appearances to lift the team to 7th place, a record for the club.
Marseille spotted him and bought him for £3.3m. Didier Drogba scored 19 goals in Ligue 1 and played in his first big final, in the UEFA Cup, but Marseille lost 2-0 to Valencia and finished as runners-up.
Shortly after that phenomenal season the Ivorian was bought by Chelsea, who paid £24m for the goal machine. He played for the Blues until 2012 and returned to Chelsea in 2014. The striker scored 164 goals in 381 matches for the Londoners and became one of the club’s legends. At Stamford Bridge he won the Premier League (4 times), the FA Cup (4), the Capital One Cup (3), the Community Shield (2) and the Champions League (1).
Drogba also won the Turkish Super League, Cup and Super Cup with Galatasaray. The Ivorian scored 275 goals in 636 professional games at club level, and for Côte d’Ivoire he scored 65 goals in 104 matches. He could not help his nation win the Africa Cup of Nations, finishing as runner-up twice.
The 37-year-old Drogba was now set to return to his real home, Stamford Bridge. This time, however, he would not wear his favourite number 11 shirt but would sit on the bench next to manager Guus Hiddink.

The night in Munich

Of all the trophies won at Stamford Bridge, one stands apart. On 19 May 2012 Chelsea met Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena, in Bayern’s own city. Thomas Muller put the hosts ahead in the 83rd minute, but five minutes later Drogba equalised from a Juan Mata corner. The match finished 1-1 after extra time, and Drogba took the final penalty of the shoot-out, which Chelsea won 4-3. It was the club’s first Champions League title, and it came in the final weeks of his first spell in London, which ended in 2012.

How the career really ended

The plan described above did not materialise as reported. On 3 March 2016 Drogba confirmed that he would play the 2016 MLS season for Montreal, and he scored 10 goals in 22 games as the club reached the conference final. He then moved to Phoenix Rising in the USL, where he played in 2017 and 2018 and also became a minority owner. In November 2018 he scored against Orange County as Phoenix won the Western Conference, but they lost the USL Championship final 1-0 at Louisville City on 8 November 2018. Drogba retired later that month at the age of 40.

Born in Abidjan on 11 March 1978, he finished as the all-time top scorer for Ivory Coast with 65 goals, captained the team from 2006 and was named African Footballer of the Year in 2006 and 2009.