In the soccer world, the name Didier Drogba means a whole lot to quite a few people. Drogba left his mark on the beautiful game and played with multiple different teams, but his time with Chelsea in the English Premier League and Ivory Coast in international play is likely the most memorable.

As of late, the 39-year-old striker has moved on to playing in the MLS with the Montreal Impact from 2015 to 2016, and now is taking a huge step with a new team, in a completely different role.

While Drogba will still be scoring goals and setting up teammates, he'll now also do something that very few, if any players have ever done in history. As reported by The Guardian, Drogba is going to join the United Soccer League's Phoenix Rising squad as both a player and a co-owner.

As the story points out, Drogba hasn't played soccer since leaving the Impact back in November, but he'll join what's called the "MLS expansion franchise ownership group." Drogba is taking the opportunity to own a part of a franchise, and help to build it both on and off the field.

You can probably imagine that Drogba was excited about the potential to take this interesting turn in his career, and he spoke about the opportunity as well.

“To own a team and be a player at the same time is unusual but it’s going to be very exciting,” Drogba said. “It’s a good transition because I want to carry on playing but I’m almost 40 and it’s important for me to prepare for my later career.”

The team is currently in the mix with 12 other teams to potentially become one of the two new MLS franchises. While Drogba is taking on a larger role with the group, he still made it widely known that his interest is to return to Chelsea at some point in some fashion. Regardless, the offer from Phoenix was too enticing to pass up, as he even turned down opportunities to play in other places to be a part of it.

“I had offers from China, from England – in both the Premier League and even the Championship – but they were only as a player,” Drogba told the BBC’s Premier League Show.

“This was the right offer because it was important for me to think about playing, because I enjoy it, but also to get to the next stage of my career.”