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Didier Drogba's hopes of becoming the president of the Ivory Coast Football Association (FA) suffered a massive blow after he secured zero votes from members of the Association of Former Ivorian Footballers.
Earlier reports from Ivory Coast had claimed that the Former Chelsea legend was considered as one of the hot favourites to win the presidential elections with many regarding his candidacy as a chance for the revival of Ivorian football.
However, according to poll results, former players unanimously voted for his rival and league chief Sory Diabate, halting his ambition of leading federation.
Out of the 14 members of the Association of Former Ivorian Footballers who participated in the voting exercise via video conferencing, 11 opted to go for his rival Sory Diabate.
The remaining three, however, abstained from the exercise.
Idriss Diallo, who is Vice-President of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) in charge of Marketing and Promotion Commission also received no votes.
Sory will, hence, replace Augustin Sidy Diallo, current Ivorian Football Federation president.
However, there is still a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for Drogba as he will be hoping that members of Cote d’Ivoire’s active footballers' association, coaches, referees and physios vote in his favour.
Drogba, 42, began his career at French side Le Mans in 1998, but did not play top-tier football until he was 23 when he was signed by Guingamp in 2002.
He moved to Olympique de Marseille in 2003 and a year later was signed by Chelsea where he became the attacking focal point of the team under Jose Mourinho and helped the club win their first top flight English title in 50 years.
He went on to win three Premier League titles in his first eight years at Chelsea as well as four FA Cups and two League Cups.
His first spell in west London ended on a high as he scored the winning penalty in the Champions League final shootout against Bayern Munich having also equalised with a thumping header to force extra time.
He had spells in China and Turkey before returning to Chelsea where he won a fourth Premier League title and a third League Cup, leaving the club as their fourth highest scorer of all time.
Drogba, who made than 100 appearances for the Ivory Coast and was voted African footballer of the year twice, ended his playing days with Phoenix Rising where he was a player-owner.
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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