Didier Drogba beaten in Ivory Coast football federation presidential election

Former Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba’s attempt to get elected to lead the Ivory Coast federation ended on Saturday.

Didier Drogba was defeated in the first round of the election of the president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF).

Idriss Diallo received the most votes (59 out of 130 voted), followed by Sory Diabate, who received 50 votes. Didier Drogba comes in third place with only 21 votes.

The 44-year-old was widely backed by the public and, according to some analysts, by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Fifa, but he was unable to persuade the presidents of Ivorian clubs, who made up the vast majority of voters.

In recent weeks, he has been blasted for not understanding enough about local football and for campaigning in a chaotic fashion without breaking the ground sufficiently.

This election is meant to put an end to a long period of leadership crises at the FIF’s presidency.

It had been postponed many times since 2020 because of a misunderstanding on the candidate sponsorship mechanism, which had then barred Didier Drogba’s candidacy.

Didier Drogba retired in 2018, he made 105 appearances for Ivory Coast and scored 65 goals.