Former Ivorian and Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba failed in his campaign to become the president of Ivory Coast’s football federation (FIF).

BBC Africa reports that the saturday’s long-delayed elections were won by Yacine Idriss Diallo.

The second round of the election which took a dramatic turn saw Diallo, a businessman and current FIF executive member, knock out former FIF vice-president Sory Diabaté by 63 votes to 61.

Drogba’s and many other candidates eligibility to contest for the office of the federation president was initially questioned. This led to the postponement of the election several times since 2020.

However, Drogba’s candidacy, initially rejected over whether he had the requisite number of official backers, was finally accepted after FIFA appointed a normalisation committee to oversee Ivorian .

Drogba is the all time best and highest scorer the country has ever produced. He has played more than 100 times for the Elephants.

The 44-year-old, has also won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League, while playing with the English premiere league club, Chelsea.

Despite Drogba’s achievements and ambitious programme for the development of football in Ivory Coast had raised his popularity,
the Ivorian legend was eliminated with only 21 votes in the first round, when Diallo (59 votes) and Diabaté (50 votes) made it through to the second round.

Diallo, been the newly elected president, will preside over the country’s football federation for four years.