Didier Drogba Disqualified from Ivorian Electoral Commission Election
Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has been told he is not eligible to stand in the upcoming elections to be the next president of the Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF). The former Chelsea man along three others submitted papers to stand in the polls earlier this month. The FIF’s Electoral Commission ruled that the former Chelsea striker did not fulfil its long list of eligibility criteria.
His bid was rejected as two of the names he had submitted as his sponsors were ruled not to have the necessary authority to do so. Officials from the Ivorian club Africa Sport and a body representing referees, AMAF-CI, also backed the federation’s current first vice-president Sory Diabate.
Didier Drogba had his papers signed by different officials from the same organisations but at the end, it was said the people were not qualified to sign the papers and so the FIF’s commission ruled out the Chelsea striker. In the case of Africa Sports, a sporting club in Ivory Coast, the head of its football section had given his approval to Drogba while the chairman of the whole club had backed Diabate.
It meant that Didier Drogba only had the backing of two top-flight Ivorian clubs and not the three that FIF statutes demand. The rejection will come as a bitter blow to football fans in Ivory Coast, thousands of whom had come out to support him earlier this month when he submitted his bid to stand.
Drogba played more than 100 games for his country and helped them greatly in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, he has also played many games for Chelsea where he joined from French giants Marseille. Didier Drogba played for Chinese club side Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray in Turkey before returning to Cheslea for the second time before retiring.
