Ghanasoccernet.com
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba’s quest to lead Côte d’Ivoire football received a major blow after former players unanimously voted for his rival.
Of the 14 members in the Association, 11 voted for his rival, league president Sory Diabate, while three abstained.
The ex-players favoured Sory Diabate
The third candidate, the current vice-president, Idriss Diallo also got no votes from the ex-players.
The results of the election, of which Drogba had been the massive favourite going into the polls done via video conferencing, has reportedly sparked a massive debate in Côte d’Ivoire.
And also particularly after experienced administrator Eugene Diomande withdrew from the race and publicly backed the former Ivorian captain.
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Drogba will hope to have better luck when members of the Active Footballers Association, the coaches, referees and the physios also cast their votes.
Interestingly, former Côte d’Ivoire international midfielder Yaya Toure also snubbed Drogba when he was asked name his best five teammates of all times.
With former teammate Yaya Toure
Toure, who spent three years at the Camp Nou, from 2007 to 2010 after joining Barcelona from AS Monaco, when asked by one of the fans to name the best five players he has shared a team with, the Ivorian named five of his former Barcelona teammates.
“Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o, Iniesta and Xavi,” the four times African Player of the Year said. “In that era they were unbeatable.”
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Drogba is the all-time top scorer for Côte d’Ivoire which he captained and he is best known for his career at Chelsea for whom he has scored more goals than any other foreign player.
He is currently the club’s fourth highest goal scorer of all time and was named African Footballer of the Year twice in 2006 and 2009.
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After playing in youth teams, Drogba made his professional debut aged 18 for Ligue 2 club Le Mans and signed his first professional contract aged 21.
After finishing the 2002-03 season with 17 goals in 34 appearances for Ligue 1 side Guingqmp, he moved to Olympique de Marseille where he finished as the third highest scorer in the 2003-04 season with 19 goals and helped the club reach the 2004 UEFA Cup final.
The legend Didier Drogba
In July 2004, Drogba moved to Chelsea for a club record £24 million fee, making him the most expensive Ivorian player in history.
In his debut season he helped the club win their first league title in 50 years and a year later he won another Premier League title.
His displays saw him named in the FIFA World XI for 2007 and in March 2012, he became the first African player to score 100 Premier League goals.
Why not me?
Just two months later, he scored in Chelsea’s 2012 FA Cup final win win over Liverpool to become the first (and as of 2017, the only) player to score in four separate FA Cup finals.
He also played in the 2012 UEFA Champions League final in which he scored an 88th-minute equaliser and the winning penalty in the deciding shoot-out against Bayern Munich.
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After spending 6 months with Shanghai Shenhua in China, and one and a half seasons with Turkish club Gatarasaray where he scored the winning goal in the final of the 2013 Turkish Super Cup, Drogba returned to Chelsea in July 2014.
With a career record of scoring 10 goals in 10 finals, winning 10 trophies at club level, Drogba has been referred to as the “ultimate big game player.”
He joined Canadian club Montreal Impact in 2015 as a Designated Player and played 41 matches over two seasons, scoring 23 goals.
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Drogba became a player–owner for Phoenix Rising of the United Soccer League in 2017, and retired a year later at the age of 40.
A Côte d’Ivoire international between 2002 and 2014, Drogba captained the national team from 2006 until his retirement from the and is the nation’s all-time top goalscorer with 65 goals from 105 appearances.
He led Côte d’Ivoire to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, their first appearance in the tournament, and also scored their first goal.
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He later captained Côte d’Ivoire at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and he was part of Côte d’Ivoire squads that reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2012 but were beaten on penalties on both occasions.
On 8 August 2014, he announced his retirement from international football and in 2018, Drogba retired from professional football at the age of 40.
On 11 December, 2018, he became the vice-president of the international organization Peace and Sport.