Didier Drogba

After Ivory Coast qualified for their first World Cup in 2005, captain Drogba knelt with team-mates in the dressing room and, on live television, asked the country's warring sides to lay down their weapons. He later helped take a national team match to the rebel-held city of Bouaké as a peace process took shape. Ivory Coast never won a tournament with him, which makes his captaincy's reach all the more striking.