Personal Life
Drogba is married to Diakité Lalla, a Malian woman whom he met in Paris, and the couple have three children together. His eldest son, Isaac, was born in France in 1999. Drogba has two younger brothers who are also footballers: Joël and Freddy Drogba. Freddy, 19, is currently in the youth system of French Ligue 1 side Dijon.
On 24 January 2007, Drogba was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a Goodwill Ambassador. The UNDP were impressed with his previous charity work and believed that his high profile would help raise awareness on African issues. Drogba's charity work continued when, in late 2009, he announced he would be donating the £3 million signing on fee for his endorsement of Pepsi for the construction of a hospital in his hometown of Abidjan. This work was done through Drogba's recently created "Didier Drogba Foundation" and Chelsea announced they too would donate the fee for the deal toward the Foundation's project. Drogba decided on building the hospital after a recent trip to the Ivorian capital's other hospitals, saying "...I decided the Foundation's first project should be to build and fund a hospital giving people basic healthcare and a chance just to stay alive."
In October 2010, Drogba's first amateur club Levallois Sporting Club named its stadium after the striker. The French club received a percentage of the £24 million fee paid by Chelsea to Marseille in 2004, which allowed the fourth-tier club to upgrade the facility. In May 2012, Drogba carried the Olympic Flame through Swindon as part of the London 2012 Olympics.
Read more about this topic: Didier Drogba
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“I began to expand my personal service in the church, and to search more diligently for a closer relationship with God among my different business, professional and political interests.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)