The one thing Drogba never achieved. Pepe did it in the 64th minute.
5 min readJun 26, 2026 08:33 AM IST In a dressing room in Omdurman, Sudan, in 2005, Didier Drogba gathered his teammates and addressed a nation. Ivory Coast had just beaten Sudan to qualify for their first World Cup. What he said next had nothing to do with football. “Men and women of Ivory Coast. From the north, south, centre, and west, we proved today that all Ivorians can coexist and play together with a shared aim. We promised you that the celebrations would unite the people — today we beg you on our knees. The one country in Africa with so many riches must not descend into war. Please lay down your weapons and hold elections. We want to have fun, so stop firing your guns.” An invisible frontier had divided the country between the government of Laurent Gbagbo in the south and the New Forces rebels in the north. Thousands had been killed. Drogba had grown up inside that fracture. His parents were pushed to the brink of bankruptcy when global cocoa and …
