'Coming home' - watch Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha's emotional return to Ivory Coast for first time in 20 years

Twenty years ago Wilfried Zaha, his parents and eight siblings left their home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for a life in London. Earlier this month he returned for the first time.

Crystal Palace winger Zaha delighted football fans in the country of his birth last year when he opted to declare for the Ivory Coast national team having previously made two friendly appearances for England.

“The country wasn’t in a good place at the time so I couldn’t really come back,” Zaha says in the video. “My mum would be like ‘yeah, now’s not the best time.’

“Leaving here as no-one and coming back as a hero… and I don’t feel like I have done anything. That’s why putting on the [Ivory Coast] shirt means a lot because they have so much love and belief in me, I haven’t even done anything yet.”

Watch the film in full above as Zaha discusses growing up in Thornton Heath, how he felt when he touched down in Abidjan to a hero’s welcome and reunites with family he has not seen in two decades.