BREAKING: Didier Drogba LOST OUT In The First Round Of The Ivory Coast FA Presidency Elections.
Former Chelsea star and Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba made an attempt and failed, as he was eliminated from the Presidential race of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF), after losing out in the first round of voting.
Earlier reports from Ivorian tweets suggesting that he had won were untrue.
This election is supposed to put an end to a long crisis of governance at the head of the FIF. It had been postponed many times since 2020, due to controversy and altercation on the candidate sponsorship system which had then blocked the candidacy of Didier Drogba.
The FIF had been placed under supervision in December 2020 by FIFA, which had set up a Standardization Committee.
After months of postponement, the election was held on Saturday, April 23 at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research in Yamoussoukro.
The 44-year-old Drogba who was newly inducted to the Premier League Hall of Fame earlier this week, could not advance to the second round of the elections on Saturday night after earning 16.54% of the total votes.
131 total votes were gathered in the first round results, with his opponents Yacine Idriss Diallo getting 59 votes, Sory Diabaté got 50 votes and Drogba only able to get 29 votes.
Yacine Diallo and Sory Diabate proceeded to the second round of the Côte d’Ivoire FA elections.
READ MORE: Premier League Hall Of Fame: Didier Drogba Joins The Six New Icons Honoured For Their Impact.
According to reports, Experts says Drogba failed to win the FA Presidency in Ivory Coast because 81 delegates were not with him, despite being loved and idolized by his people.
While ex-footballer Samuel Eto'o stays majorly in Cameroon before being elected as the country's current FA President in December last year, Didier spends most of his time in France which hinders him from building a strong political base.
Meanwhile Idriss Diallo eventually becomes the new president of the Ivorian Football Federation for the next four years.
The Buisnessman and vice-president of the Ivorian club Afad obtained 63 votes against 61 for his rival Sory Diabaté a former vice-president of FIF in a very tensed second round of voting.
"I would like to congratulate Didier (Drogba) who had the courage to get involved in this race and who made this election more than popular beyond our borders", declared Idriss Diallo, in the wake of his election, promising to be a "righteous president.
Côte d'Ivoire have missed out of the FIFA World Cup two consecutive times 2018 and 2022, and were knocked-out in the round-of-16 via penalties by Egypt in the just concluded 2021 AFCON tournament in Cameroon.
The country is set to host the next AFCON tournament from June 23 to July 23, 2023.
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