WORLD CUP 2018 QUALIFIERS - GROUP STAGE - 3rd MATCHES - ALL RESULTS

Nigeria beat Cameroon

2 Sep 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - PORTUGAL/ IVORY COAST - CLUB - TRANSFER - Swansea City sign Renato Sanches and Wilfried Bony

Sanches joined Bayern from Benfica in May 2016.

1 Sep 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - TUNISIA - CLUB - TRANSFER - Abdennour loaned to Marseille from Valencia

Aymen Abdennour has signed for Marseille on loan deal .

31 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - GUINEA - CLUB - Liverpool agree record Keita fee for 2018

Naby Keita has 25 caps for Guinea.

30 Aug 2017
NATIONAL LEAGUE - EGYPT - CLUB - COACH - Zamalek name Nebojsa Jovovic as coach

Zamalek name Montenegrin Nebojsa Jovovic as coach.

29 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - SENEGAL/EGYPT - CLUB -Mane and Salah help Liverpool beat Arsenal

Mohamed Salah has scored three goals this season.

28 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - BURKINA FASO - CLUB - TRANSFER - Bakary Kone joins Strasbourg on loan

Bakary Kone joins Strasbourg on loan.

27 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - GABON - CLUB - TRANSFER - Evouna leaves China for Turkish side Konyaspor

Malick Evouna has left Chinese side Tianjin Teda.

21 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - IVORY COAST - CLUB - COACH - Max Gradel explains Toulouse loan move

Ivory Coast's Max Gradel explains Toulouse loan move.

18 Aug 2017
STARS IN EUROPE - GHANA - CLUB - Kevin-Prince Boateng returns to Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt

Kevin-Prince Boateng returns to the German Bundesliga

17 Aug 2017

KEYPLAYER - IVORY COAST - CLUB - Drogba joins Phoenix as player and owner

Phoenix Rising Didier Drogba

 

Former Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba has joined United Soccer League side Phoenix Rising as a player and co-owner.

Drogba, 39, has not played since leaving Major League Soccer club Montreal Impact in November.

He will start out as a player but has also joined Phoenix's "MLS expansion franchise ownership group".

"To own a team and be a player at the same time is unusual but it's going to be very exciting," Drogba said.

"It's a good transition because I want to carry on playing but I'm almost 40 and it's important for me to prepare for my later career."

Phoenix have just started their fourth season in the Western Conference of USL, which forms part of the second tier of the American league system.

The Arizona club hope to become one of four planned expansion teams in MLS over the next three years.

"I had offers from China, from England - in both the Premier League and even the Championship - but they were only as a player," Drogba told The Premier League Show.

"This was the right offer because it was important for me to think about playing, because I enjoy it, but also to get to the next stage of my career."

Drogba last played for Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer

Drogba scored 157 goals in 341 appearances during his first spell at Chelsea from 2004 to 2012, winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Following moves to Shanghai Shenhua in China and Turkish side Galatasaray, Drogba returned to the Blues for the 2014-15 season, scoring seven goals in 40 appearances, helping Jose Mourinho's side to the title, before 18 months with Montreal.

He joins former Chelsea team-mate Shaun Wright-Phillips at Phoenix, who have one win and two defeats from three games this season.

"I'm still a player but it's important to respect the decision of the manager," added Drogba, who is Ivory Coast's record goalscorer.

"When we're on the pitch, he's going to be the one who decides and when we go to board meetings, it's a different thing."

 

 

13 Apr 2017
(BBC Sport UK)

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