Video: Michael Essien shares how he ended up playing for Ghana

According to the 36-year-old his mother had to encourage him to join the U-17 national football team at the time he was too much attacked to her.

"When I was selected for the national Under 17 side, I was in school at the time and my mum said it's going to be a difficult one, do you really want to go?," Essien said in an interview with FIFA TV.

"I think my answer was no. My mum sat me down and said, my son, you should go".

Michael Essien has been selected among the likes of World Cup winners Marcel Desailly of France and Brazil’s Gilberto Silva, two-time UEFA Champions League winner Michel Salgado of Spain, Argentina’s Esteban Cambiasso, Australian Tim Cahill and former South Korean star Park Ji-sung by FIFA as ambassadors to promote this year’s Women’s World Cup in France.

Essien played for the Black Starlets at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, before featuring at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Black Satellites.

Michael Essien has represented Ghana at the senior level on 58 occasions and has nine goals to his name. He has also featured in two different FIFA World Cup- 2006 and 2014

The Ghanaian legend played 58 times for the Black Stars and scoring 9 goals in the process since making his debut for the team from 2002 to 2014.