Black History Month: Solid as a Rock

The France team from 1996-2001 is one of the great teams ever assembled. Helping to lead the charge on that defense was Marcel Desailly, whose presence was so formidable on the soccer field that he was known simply as “The Rock.”

Born as Odenke Abbey in Accra, Ghana to 2 Ghanaian parents, his name was changed to Marcel Desailly when his mother remarried to the head of the French Consulate. When Desailly was 4, his family relocated to France, and it’s where he got his start playing soccer.

He came up quickly through the ranks, joining the academy at FC Nantes, where he played alongside Didier Deschamps, who he would go on to play with on the French national team. Nantes brought him up to the…