Emmanuel Adebayor’s Exclusive interview on Planet Sport Football Africa is one of the most emotional interviews one could ever listened to.
The 2008 African Footballer of the Year on Planet Sport Football Africa’s podcast show revealed to Pierce Edwards and Steve Vickers about how he was unable to walk until age five and how he nearly lost the ability to walk but a sight of football helped him spring up to his feet.
Emmanuel Adebayor, 40, played as a striker for Metz, Monaco, Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Place among many other top teams in a career spanning over two decades.
“I think i was about five years when i started walking. At age two, i was fine, normal, crawling, healthy, but i just couldn’t stand on my toe feet.
“And obviously you know African parents, they took me everywhere. We went to iman, spiritual people, they went into some kind of darknes for me to be able to walk and someone suggested to my parent they should take me to a pastor in Ghana where i have to stay there for a week. After two, three days, they guaranteed my parents that i will walk.
Adebayor was born in Lome, the capital of Togo to Yoruba parents from Nigeria but he has been staying in Ghana for a long time now.
“At the moment, my parents were doing everything and anything to find a solution.
“So they took me there on one Tuesday or Wednesday or so. Obviously, because i was little, they will put me in the middle and they will have a lot of all those strong pastors or strong spiritual people to come and pray over me. I could obviously hear them shouting and praying in all kind of languages.
“And on one Sunday, they took me to the church where everybody was there. I was infront of the church with everyone and everyone sent their prayers towards me.
“The pastors themselves prayed for me on top of all people’s prayer. When everything was okay, they took me out and i saw people that are ill, sick and people that need deliverances were all in the church.
“So my time came, they finished mine. They took me outside. I saw
Some boys playing right infront of the church but it was not in the camp of the church.
“I saw the ball actually entered over the wall. The wall was like 1.5 meters long. The ball did fly over the wall and bounced in the house and as soon as i saw the ball, i started running. It was a shout of deliverance. Everybody shouted, hey he’s walking he’s walking. I started panicking because i didnt know what was happening.
“My mum came and carried me, everybody was happy, they were delighted.
“Whenever my mum shares that story, she weeps because she witnessed it and it brings her memories about what she went through.
“The story touches me and also make me sad always. I always remember my mum when i remember my story.
Emmanuel adebayor lost his mother, Alice, in August 2021 after battling sickness for a year long.
On his faith, the Togolese international said, “For me i joke with so many things but i don’t joke with God because if i tell you everything that i have been through; spiritually, physically and emotionally and im still having a way to find peace, i will say God has been so good for me.
“If i tell you my story, you cannot make a movie out of it but rather a series from it. Because it is so long and emotional and you’ll be amazed.
Nicknamed ‘Baby Kanu’, many think Adebayor is a muslim but he disclosed that he is a christian.
“My name is Emmanuel, it means Jesus is with me, Jesus is with you.
I’m a proper Christian guy”.
Adebayor is recognised by the World, FIFA, CAF and Togo and he credited it to the faith he has in God. The former Arsenal forward sleeps with his Bible under his pillow.
He led Togo to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany which happens to be one of the major achievements in his career.
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