Drogba playing for Chelsea in 2014
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Didier Yves Drogba Tébily | ||
Date of birth | 11 March 1978 | ||
Place of birth | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | ||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
Playing position | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
1989–1991 | Abbeville | ||
1991–1993 | Vannes | ||
1993–1997 | Levallois | ||
1997–1998 | Le Mans | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1998–2002 | Le Mans | 64 | (12) |
2002–2003 | Guingamp | 45 | (20) |
2003–2004 | Marseille | 35 | (19) |
2004–2012 | Chelsea | 226 | (100) |
2012–2013 | Shanghai Shenhua | 11 | (8) |
2013–2014 | Galatasaray | 37 | (15) |
2014–2015 | Chelsea | 28 | (4) |
2015–2016 | Montreal Impact | 33 | (21) |
National team | |||
2002–2014 | Ivory Coast | 104 | (65) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 October 2016. |
Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (French pronunciation: [didje dʁɔɡba]; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at Chelsea, for whom he has scored more goals than any other foreign player and is currently the club's fourth highest goal scorer of all time. He has been named African Footballer of the Year twice, winning the accolade in 2006 and 2009.
After playing in youth teams, Drogba made his professional debut aged 18 for Ligue 2 club Le Mans, and signed his first professional contract aged 21. After finishing the 2002–03 season with 17 goals in 34 appearances for Ligue 1 side Guingamp, he moved to Olympique de Marseille, where he finished as the third highest scorer in the 2003–04 season with 19 goals and helped the club reach the 2004 UEFA Cup Final.
In the summer of 2004, Drogba moved to Premier League club Chelsea for a club record £24 million fee, making him the most expensive Ivorian player in history. In his debut season he helped the club win their first league title in 50 years, and a year later he won another Premier League title. In March 2012, he became the first African player to score 100 Premier League goals, and also became the only player in history to score in four separate FA Cup finals the same year, when he scored in Chelsea's win over Liverpool in the 2012 final. He also played in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, in which he scored an 88th-minute equaliser and the winning penalty in the deciding shoot-out against Bayern Munich. After spending 6 months with Shanghai Shenhua in China, and one and a half seasons with Turkish club Galatasaray where he scored the winning goal in the final of the 2013 Turkish Super Cup, Drogba returned to Chelsea in July 2014. With a career record of scoring 10 goals in 10 finals winning 10 trophies at club level, Drogba has been referred to as the "ultimate big game player."