Unbelievable Football Stories: 7 of the best

#7 Adebayor’s childhood

God’s gift to Adebayor

The previous slide was a dark and gory account that tainted the beautiful game in so many ways. Death and destruction might be a part of life, but the ugliness surrounding the war was something unforgettable.

However, football could also be the reason for someone getting a life—and none depicts that better than Emmanuel Adebayor. There are a lot of African players who came from poverty-stricken backgrounds to become millionaires and live the luxurious life of a footballer.

With Adebayor, it was no different. However, what made his story different from the rest—and more special—is the fact that football taught him how to walk.

Even at the age of 4, the Togolese couldn’t walk. His mother sojourned around many African countries to find a cure for her son’s condition but to no avail. In the end, she was advised by the Church to pray for him every day for a week. If even that didn’t work, the Church said, all hope was gone.

Nothing happened for the six days as Adebayor could still not walk, but on the final day of the prayers, a football was shot into the church by one of the kids playing outside. “And,” said Adebayor, “the first person to stand up and run was me, because I wanted to get that ball.”

Dust in my eyes...