Didier Drogba lives forever

Following the success of the Virgil Abloh-endorsed AFROSURF book back in 2021, surf brand Mami Wata released something just as special last year. AFROSPORT is an exceptional book/encyclopaedia/bible featuring original interviews with sports people ranging from basketballer Joakim Noah to UFC fighter Dricus du Plessis shining a fresh light on the African continent’s history, present, and future through the lenses of sport, photography, design, and culture.

There are profiles and essays on everything from football to cycling, laamb wrestling to donga fighting, with 25 writers, 30 photographers, and 100 original pieces of graphic design. Honestly, it’s one of the most exciting pieces of work we’ve seen… and profits from sales went to African youth surf therapy organisations Waves for Change and Surfers Not Street Children. You can and should order the first edition of the book here.

And amongst all of it is an interview with a man we’re not going to write a two-line introduction about because he doesn’t need us to try and do that. Didier Drogba, take it away…

“When I left Côte d’Ivoire at age six to live with my uncle, Michel Goba, a journeyman professional footballer in France, I never expected that my life would turn out the way it has. Uncle Michel would come visit over the summers, and I was voraciously curious about his life there. It got to the point where I really wanted to go back with him. In our culture, when you have a decent life and also the opportunity to take care of your brother’s or sister’s kids, you take them with you to give them better opportunities; when one succeeds, he or she has to help the others.