A man's striking set of priorities

English FA Cup final: Andrew Fifieldlistens to Chelsea's Didier Drogba about what drives him in life outside of football

Smiling does not come easily to Didier Drogba. During photograph sessions with goggle-eyed supporters at Chelsea's pristine Cobham training ground, Drogba's face rarely loses its sad, solemn air; even if he plunders the winning goal in today's FA Cup final, it will doubtless be celebrated with a fearsome snarl rather than a broad grin.

Drogba is a brooding figure, respected rather than loved by his peers, and yet his stony demeanour is deceptive. He may not show it, but Drogba cares: he cares about his work for Chelsea, his shimmering international goalscoring record and, perhaps most of all, his status as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.

It is a role which defines Drogba. Only a handful of footballers qualify for such a prestigious position - Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane are fellow ambassadors - and it is a reflection of his standing in his native Ivory Coast that Drogba was asked to join the UN's Development Programme in January. If Chelsea consider him indispensable, then back home he is an icon, the nation's most successful sporting export and a symbol of hope.

Drogba, for all his success, is not immune to the sufferings of his countrymen. In 1983, his parents - struggling to stay afloat in the midst of one of Ivory Coast's regular economic crises - sent their son to live with his uncle, Michel Goba, a footballer with the French club Brest. Didier, aged five, cried for the whole six-hour flight.

It was a painful decision, but one which effectively sprinkled magic dust on his fledgling career. Having been converted from a right back to a centre forward by his dogmatic uncle, he sped through the youth ranks at Levallois, caught the eye of scouts from Le Mans and finally wound up at France's biggest club, Marseille, before moving to Chelsea in 2004.

Yet even as Drogba's star continued to ascend, the fortunes of his home plummeted. "The West African Miracle", as Ivory Coast was once christened, became a farce, then a tragedy. Economic deprivation, political and civil turmoil now form the back-drop to everyday life.

Drogba is determined to give something back.

"My work with the UN is to try and give everybody a chance to have a good life," he said. "We, as footballers, have this chance, we are in a better position than people in Africa. To go there and give them what they need, to build schools and do this work, is very important. Children are the future and they need to be prepared for that future.

"I always think about that because I had the chance to come in France very early, my parents gave me the chance to learn and go to school in a better situation than if I was in the Ivory Coast. So I want to share this with the people in Africa and everywhere in the world."

Drogba's heavy work-load with Chelsea has delayed the start of his UN work, although he is already pondering projects of interest. HIV and Aids awareness campaigns have been ear-marked, as well as pushing for equal rights for women.

"There has to be equality," Drogba has said. "Women and girls are currently at particular risk. The attitude and behaviour of men must change. As a man, and as an example for many young African boys, I'll do my best to convey the right messages in order to put a stop to this problem."

If there is one footballer used to shouldering such colossal burdens, it is Drogba. He has scored almost a third of Chelsea's 115 goals this season and now stands as a monument to Mourinho's brand of pugnacious, frill-free football. He is a daunting figure, tall and muscle-bound, and with skin that glistens in London's watery spring sunshine like polished black marble.

Yet it is his strength of mind, rather than body, which so impresses. When Mourinho's side, shorn of the talismanic Petr Cech and John Terry, were at their flakiest in December and January, Drogba simply puffed out his chest and delivered a remarkable display of muscular forward play.

He battered an astonishing, last-minute winner at Everton and scored six more goals in a richly productive, eight-match spell. Alex Ferguson was only half-joking when he revealed he had prayed for "somebody to shoot Drogba" during that turbo-charged sequence, although even if a red-shirted sniper had taken him at his word, the bullets would probably have bounced off. At his best, Drogba can appear almost super-human.

But while the Ivorian represents the best of modern Chelsea, he has also been cited as the symbol of their darker side. Press and punter alike have not forgotten or forgiven the 29-year-old's flustered admission, delivered following a 2-0 win over Manchester City last March, that "sometimes I dive and sometimes I stand".

It was one of the grimmest moments in a troubled time for Drogba. He was jeered by sections of his supporters during that match, after appearing to deliberately use his hand in the build-up to scoring his second goal, and rumours swirled of a possible return to Marseille.

But if Drogba was painted as a troubled soul pining for more familiar surroundings, the man remained phlegmatic. Having seen genuine suffering at uncomfortably close quarters, he is hardly lacking in perspective.

"It's true that my career and football is very important to me, but there are things even more significant," he said. "Football is important because this is why people know me and this is what can help me to do what I want to do with the UN. But life is more important than winning or losing a game, even the FA Cup."

There are some at Chelsea who would do well to heed Drogba's philosophical approach. The west Londoners are not the Premiership's most gracious losers, their season pock-marked by unseemly spats and bitter in-fighting. A dose of Drogba's level-headedness might just make Stamford Bridge a happier place.

For the moment, though, any thoughts of close-season goodwill must wait.

Having seen their ambitions for the Champions League and Premiership title thwarted in the space of one gloomy week, another set-back against United today might just push Mourinho - already teetering on the brink of unemployment - over the edge. Unsurprisingly, Drogba prefers to focus on the psychological significance of vanquishing the new champions.

"We know it's going to be a big battle against Manchester United for the next two or three years, and this game is about landing a blow on them ahead of next season," he said. "They are favourites because they won the league and controlled it this season. But we have confidence in ourselves as well.

"When we are suffering with injuries and everything else, we have to find something else to win games - more commitment, more belief. But every time we have played a final since I came here we have performed well, and if we can win this game, it will make it a successful season."

And what of trotting out at the new Wembley? As a wiry youth, Drogba saw the Stade de France rise up against the Paris cityscape in blink-and-you- miss-it time: Wembley, in contrast, has risen with all the alacrity of an arthritic pensioner after a few gin and tonics.

Yet here it is, a glittering venue in need of some brand new legends, and Drogba would seem to fit the bill.

So, will he be nervous?

"No. I am never nervous before matches, not even big ones. We are just looking forward to a fantastic occasion and ending our season well."

And if Chelsea do, who knows? Wembley might even be treated to one of those rare Drogba smiles.