Didier Drogba leaving Chelsea

LONDON (Reuters) ― Didier Drogba brought down the curtain on a trophy-laden career at Chelsea on Tuesday when he announced he would be leaving the club after eight years in West London.

The Ivory Coast striker will leave when his contract expires at the end of June and is now odds-on to follow his former teammate Nicolas Anelka to China.

He leaves the club on a high after a starring role in Saturday’s Champions League final when he scored an emphatic equalizer before coolly slotting home the decisive penalty in the shootout.

It capped a glittering period at Stamford Bridge where he also won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and two League Cups.

“I wanted to put an end to all the speculation and confirm that I am leaving Chelsea,” Drogba said on the club website.

“It has been a very difficult decision for me to make and I am very proud of what we have achieved but the time is right for a new challenge for me.”

Drogba, 34, joined Chelsea from Olympique Marseille in 2004. His menacing physicality was ideally suited to the fast-paced hubbub of the Premier League.

FIFA delays appointments

BUDAPEST (AP) ― FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s anti-corruption drive hit another delay on Tuesday, even as soccer’s world governing body appointed the first woman to its inner circle.

FIFA pushed back plans until July to select independent outsiders who will spearhead a new investigations unit. Critics want these officials to probe past allegations of wrongdoing in their new jobs leading prosecution and judging chambers of a revamped ethics court.

However, FIFA said one candidate to chair the judging division declined on Monday for health reasons.

“In view of this, the executive committee decided to hold an extraordinary meeting to designate both chairmen together,” FIFA said in a statement.

A previous promise by Blatter to identify officials who took million-dollar kickbacks from World Cup marketing deals in the 1990s has stalled since October.

FIFA’s 24-man ruling committee did manage to propose Lydia Nsekera of Burundi as the first female delegate to join their ranks. She would accept an initial one-year tenure before an open election for the dedicated women’s post next year.

Elephant, pig tapped to predict

WARSAW (AP) ― Who’s going to win the European Championship? Time to ask an elephant ― or a pig.

Poland’s answer to Paul the Octopus ― the tentacled tipster who gained worldwide fame for his 2010 World Cup predictions ― is Citta the elephant. Ukraine, however, will probably go for an enormous beer-loving pig ― but there are big doubts about whether he can handle the media glare.

The parade of supposedly psychic animals comes as the two Eastern European nations gear up to co-host the continent’s most prestigious soccer championship from June 8 to July 1.

The zoo in the southern Polish city of Krakow settled on a temperamental 33-year-old female pachyderm from India while Ukraine ― where slices of hog fat are the national dish ― is contemplating a happier destiny for a 2-year-old already named Psychic Pig.

The pig has a fondness for beer and fries and grunts in pleasure when he watches matches on television with his farmer owner, his publicist claimed Tuesday.

Spain striker Villa to miss Euro

BARCELONA (AP) ― Spain striker David Villa has ruled himself out of the European Championship after failing to recover from a leg injury that forced him to miss much of the last season with Barcelona.

Villa is Spain’s all-time leading scorer but hasn’t played since breaking his left shin in December.

Barcelona said on its website Tuesday that Villa made the decision himself and informed Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque.

European and world champion Spain opens its defense June 10 against Italy.