Zaha switches to Ivory Coast from England

Britain Soccer Football - Middlesbrough v Crystal Palace - Premier League - The Riverside Stadium - 10/9/16 Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha celebrates scoring their second goal Action Images via Reuters / Ed Sykes Livepic

(Reuters) - Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has decided to switch his international allegiance to Ivory Coast from England.

The 24-year-old was able to make the switch to Ivory Coast as his two England caps came in friendlies, against Sweden in 2012 and Scotland the following year.

"The Ivorian-English attacking midfielder Wilfried Zaha has chosen to play for the Elephants, under the colours of the Ivory Coast, his country of origin," the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) said in a statement.

"In the presence of his father, of Augustin Sidy Diallo (president of the FIF) and Michel Dussuyer (Elephants coach), he signed at the bottom of the demand to change his sporting nationality addressed to FIFA."

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)