Didier Drogba sends emotional message after confirming retirement | OneFootball

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Blaise Bourgeois·22 November 2018

Didier Drogba sends emotional message after confirming retirement

Article image:Didier Drogba sends emotional message after confirming retirement

Didier Drogba looked back to where it all started as he announced his retirement on Wednesday night.

Drogba finished his career after leading the USL’s Phoenix Rising, a team he co-owns, to the USL Championship, where they were defeated by defending champions Louisville City FC.


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Despite a plethora of achievements at the professional level, Drogba decided to display a photo from his childhood as he thanked his family, friends, and supporters for all their help during his memorable career.

Drogba started his professional career with Ligue 2’s Le Mans in 1998, where he struggled to adapt to the strenuous life of a footballer.

His former manager, Marc Westerloppe, stated: “It took Didier four years to be capable of training every day and playing every week.”

After scoring 12 goals in 64 Ligue 2 appearances, Drogba was sold to Ligue 1’s Guingamp in January 2002 for less than €100,000 in what was largely a financial move for both clubs.

After he scored three goals in 11 matches to help Guingamp avoid relegation, Drogba scored 17 goals in 34 games to give his side a club-record seventh-placed finish, which launched his career and forced a move to Marseille for roughly €4m.

In his only season at Marseille, Drogba caught the world’s attention by scoring 19 goals in 35 Ligue 1 matches, while scoring five goals in six Champions League matches.

In addition, Drogba scored six goals in eight UEFA Cup matches – which included a key brace in the second leg semi-final against Newcastle to send them to the final, where they were beaten 2-0 by Valencia.

Drogba became Chelsea’s club-record signing that summer, and he would pay back all of the €27m they spent on him and then some.

From 2004 to 2012, the Ivorian scored 157 goals in 341 games while he won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, and the 2012 Champions League title with Chelsea.

After stints at Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray, Drogba returned to Chelsea in 2014 and won a fourth PL title and a third League Cup under José Mourinho.

Drogba then went to Major League Soccer’s Montreal Impact for a pair of successful seasons before buying a stake in the USL’s (United States’ second-division side) Phoenix Rising, where he completed the last two years of his career.