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One of the many things I've learned about watching the World Cup this last week is the story of Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast player who plays professionally for Chelsea.












He's a great player, but here's the amazing story about him: In 2005, he led Ivory Coast in a win that qualified them for the next World Cup. After this game, with the press all around him, he dropped to his knees and begged the warring factions in Ivory Coast's civil war to end their fighting. And as Alex Hayes wrote, "within a week, his bold wish had been granted." Incredibly, the civil war ended then and there.

Writer Alex Hayes went to Ivory Coast to interview him, and Hayes said, "I had been totally unaware of Didier's incredible feat until I began talking to people in Abidjan. At no point had he mentioned, let alone boasted, about his political involvement."


Hayes continues: "On the way to the house where he grew up in the suburbs of Abidjan, he told me that he could cope without money; that he could easily give up all the trappings of wealth and return to a humble life back home. Before my trip, I would have doubted him. But today I am sure he was being truthful. Of course Drogba enjoys his lifestyle, but that does not mean he is detached from the world around him. 'The money came after my education," he said, 'after I became a man.'"

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