Didier Drogba’s hopes of becoming the next president of the Ivory Coast FA has been dashed quite comprehensively, as he picked up zero votes in the latest election race. The 42-year-old was aiming to become the head of the country’s football body. There were a total of 14 votes available for the candidates, but the former Chelsea man did not secure any of them. He was not the only one with zero votes after vice-president Idriss Diallo also had to face the same fate. Three candidates ended up withdrawing from the election at the last moment, while current president Sory Diabate was able to win comfortably with 11 votes.
It was a huge shock that many players, including Didier Zokora, who was the assistant captain for Drogba, did not endorse the former Chelsea forward. Drogba is regarded as one of the iconic names in Ivory Coast after he achieved immense popularity by playing for Chelsea. The 42-year-old picked up every major honour with the blues over two spells. Back then, it was even considered that Drogba would be able to win the presidential election if he ran for the same. This, however, latest setback has put a major doubt on Drogba’s ability to transform his popularity into actual votes.
Victor Ezeji says that the 42-year-old was unable to secure any votes, as he has filled his opposition with envy and jealousy. “First, I will attribute this to envy because most times, ex-internationals seem to envy themselves especially when one is thriving, there are so much envy and bad blood. I think that is one of the things that must have led Drogba not getting a vote from any of the ex-internationals which is very absurd. Personally, I thought Drogba would have a clean sweep because the ex-internationals were involved,” said the former Enyimba forward.