World Cup Star Pens Heartfelt Letter to Deceased Sister (15): 'I Will Make Sure Everyone Knows Your Name'

Diomandé's star is on the rise, a trajectory he attributes to his sister Roxane, who tragically passed away at fifteen from drugs slipped into her drink. Her death left a profound mark on the Ivorian forward, who was three years her senior. They had shared a moment of pure joy when, at eighteen, Diomandé signed his contract with Spanish club Léganes and made his professional debut. Just weeks later, she was gone.

"Now I feel nothing," he writes in a lengthy letter published in The Players' Tribune. "As if I'm not even human anymore. Since you died, I've only felt emptiness. I don't think I shed a single tear the day they told me you were gone. I was just in shock. It was only a few weeks after I'd made my debut for Leganés. Who debuts at 18 against Real Madrid? It was incredible. It was a dream. And then it became a nightmare."

He remembers it as if it were yesterday. "Someone from home kept calling me. I was annoyed. I answered, and they didn't even try to soften the blow. You know how it is back home. No emotions. Just...'Your sister is gone. She's passed away'. You were 15 years old... I never got any answers. I don't even know if I want to know why. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it's just something that happens in our country. Maybe I could have protected you. I don't know. I try to believe in God's plan. That's all I can do. I try not to forget, because I know I won't forget."

Diomandé carries his sister Roxane with him always, finding strength and a place to speak with her on the football pitch. "All I can do is use that pain to work even harder and achieve everything we dreamed of. I wrote this because I can't talk about it. I wrote this because I want you to know that I will make sure you live on. I will make sure everyone knows your name. The whole world. Everything I do on the football pitch, I do for you."

And now he can showcase that on the grandest stage, the World Cup. "We did it. Everything you said came true. Truly. Your brother will play for Ivory Coast, like Drogba, like Yaya Touré, like Gervinho. I don't even see it as a game. I see it as a stage. This is my chance to show the whole world what you saw in me. Every time I score, I will make sure everyone knows your name. I will make sure you are not forgotten. You always said I could be better than Cristiano Ronaldo. If I see him there, I will greet him on your behalf. I will prove you right, or I'll die trying."