Today is Didier Drogba's birthday.

Here are 7 facts about him that most football fans still do not know. Number 1 will give you a lot of hope.

1. He did not turn professional until he was 21.Most elite footballers are in academy systems at 8, 9, 10 years old. Drogba bounced between Ivory Coast and France as a child, struggled to find a club that wanted him, and did not make his professional debut until 1999 at Le Mans, a Ligue 2 club. He won the Premier League Golden Boot 3 years later. He won the Champions League 13 years after that.

2. He scored 10 goals in finals across his entire career. Frank Lampard once said that in the dressing room before a big game, Drogba transformed into a different person entirely. The numbers confirm it. He is the only player in history to score in 4 separate FA Cup finals. He won all 4.

3. In March 2012, Drogba reached 100 Premier League goals, a milestone no African player had ever reached before him. He finished with 104 Premier League goals for Chelsea across 2 spells. Mohamed Salah has since passed that record, but Drogba was the first to break that barrier and he did it before the era of the current generation.

4. A 59-second speech he gave in a dressing room helped end a civil war. In October 2005, after Ivory Coast qualified for their first ever World Cup, Drogba invited TV cameras into the dressing room. He got on his knees and begged his country to stop fighting. The speech lasted 59 seconds. 

Within weeks, the warring factions entered negotiations. A ceasefire was signed after 5 years of civil war. He then organised a home match against Madagascar to be played in Bouake, the symbolic centre of the rebellion, to demonstrate that the country was united. Beer brands in Ivory Coast renamed their bottles "Drogbas" in his honour.

5. In 2009, Drogba donated the full £3 million from his Pepsi endorsement deal to build a hospital in Abidjan, his hometown. He did not keep a percentage. The United Nations had already appointed him as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in 2007 because of his humanitarian work

6. He scored 65 goals in 105 appearances for Ivory Coast. Drogba is Ivory Coast's all-time top scorer with 65 goals in 105 games. He led them to 3 consecutive World Cups in 2006, 2010, and 2014, the first 3 World Cup appearances in the country's history. He also led them to 2 AFCON finals in 2006 and 2012, unfortunately losing both on penalties. He won African Footballer of the Year twice, in 2006 and 2009.

7. The Network of Universities of Science and Technology of Africa awarded Drogba an honorary degree not for his football but for his humanitarian work. He also received the UEFA President's Award in 2020, where UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin called him a pioneer who blazed a trail for African footballers and gave inspiration to an entire generation. 

He is currently Vice President of Peace and Sport, an international organisation that uses sport to build peace in conflict zones