Didier Drogba loses bid to be Ivory Coast FA President

Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba failed in his bid to become the President of the Ivorian Football Federation.

The popular former footballer came last among the three contestants in Saturday’s elections and did not go past the first round.

According to Saturday’s results , the two-time African Player of the Year finished third behind Yacine Idriss Diallo and Sory Diabate.

While Diallo accrued 59 votes, Diabate secured 51 votes with the 44-year-old finishing a distant third after polling 21 votes.

Former Chelsea striker Drogba, named in the Premier League’s Hall of Fame this week, was ousted in the first round of voting with just under a fifth of the vote.

In the second round, Diallo, a businessman and current FIF executive member, squeezed out former FIF vice-president Sory Diabaté by 63 votes to 61.

Saturday’s election in the political capital Yamoussoukro had been postponed several times since 2020, primarily over the ongoing issues over the eligibility of certain candidates, with Drogba prominent among them.

After Fifa appointed a normalisation committee to oversee Ivorian football, Drogba’s candidacy – initially rejected over whether he had the requisite number of official backers – was eventually accepted.

Drogba played more than 100 times for the Elephants, including at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, but was told in August 2020 that he was not eligible to stand in the election.

After intervention from Fifa, the 44-year-old, who won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League across two spells with Chelsea, retained his hopes of running the game in the West African country.

Yet Ivory Coast’s all-time top scorer was eliminated in the first round with 21 votes in the first round, when Diallo (59 votes) and Diabaté (50 votes) made it through to the second round.

Drogba’s achievements and ambitious programme for the development of football in Ivory Coast had raised his popularity, and after his defeat many of his supporters expressed their anger on social media on Saturday.