Why my dad banned me from playing football for a year – Drogba

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba [Courtesy]

Didier Drogba was banned from playing for a year before his career took off.

The Chelsea and Premier League legend revealed his dad Albert stopped him from playing football when he was 16 because he wanted him to concentrate on his studies and he is now one of the most important figures in the Ivory Coast’s history.

Drogba has gone on to be one of football’s deep thinkers and his Foundation has raised huge amounts of money for his native Ivory Coast to open the foundation’s first school and first mobile heart clinic to visit villages.

But Drogba, who joined his first professional club Le Mans when he was 20, admitted: “Back in the days, being a pro footballer was not the same 25 years ago as it is now. Now, everyone if pushing their kids to become football players.

“But my dad was like, ‘No, it’s not a secure job. You get injured and you lose everything.’ But it was my passion. It became my job and obviously now it’s completely different because there’s so much money in football that everyone is trying to push their kids.

His dad wanted him to get a day job instead [Courtesy]

“That’s why I started late. When I was not studying well, my dad would stop me from playing. For him, football was not as important as school.

“I had to be smart so the best way was to work well at school, please my dad and keep him happy. And then I went to him and said ‘there’s a football team there, I just want to go and play one sport.’

“He said ‘OK, go.’ So I went back to the club and I went back to him and said ‘I’ve found my sport, it’s football.’”