Ivorian delegates to vote president of the football federation on Saturday

Ivory Coast on April 23, 2022, we will vote the new President of the Football Federation. The election comes after it was postponed severally and will be organized in Yamoussoukro, the political captain in the West African country

Among the potential candidates include Idriss Yacine Diallo, Sory Diabate and the former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. The winner will preside over the football body for the next five years.

A total of 81 delegates will vote on Saturday in an election that has also drawn the political minds. In recent weeks, the question of the legitimacy of Didier DROGBA, former captain of the national team, has drawn mixed reactions, especially from the locals.

Expectations have been raised particularly on Drogba’s candidacy with some opposing his bid while others showed support.

Didier Drogba promised on Monday "a new era" if he is elected president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) on Saturday.

''After April 23, a new era will begin for Ivorian soccer,'' Didier Drogba said at a press conference in Abidjan, expressing confidence in his victory over his two opponents, former senior FIF officials Idriss Diallo and Sory Diabate.

I think I have every chance of winning this election," he said, highlighting "the work done by his staff" and his program called "Renaissance. "My priority after my election will be to bring together because Côte d'Ivoire has experienced too many crises that made us miss the qualification for two World Cups," he added.

He intends to reorganize the Ivorian soccer from top to bottom and promised an increase in subsidies to clubs whose presidents are called to elect the new head of FIF.

The club presidents have seen that my program will benefit them. As for the former players, we will put them on a mission to share their experiences with the younger ones'', he assured.

Drogba, Diallo and Diabate were officially selected on Saturday as candidates - among six initially - to run for the presidency of FIF, whose election will be held on Saturday in the Ivorian administrative capital Yamoussoukro.

The election of the new president will however only be definitively validated once the results of an "integrity investigation" to which they must submit.

Despite his status as an icon of Ivorian soccer and the support of the international federation, Didier Drogba's election is not a foregone conclusion: he has spent most of his professional life abroad, while his two rivals know perfectly well the workings of the FIF and the clubs of Côte d'Ivoire.

For his opponents, Didier Drogba "does not do field, he considers that being a star is enough and does not go to see the voters, ie club presidents," explains the entourage of one of the candidates to AFP.

And to add: "It was not able to gather the number of sponsorships necessary in two years, it was even necessary to lower the number of sponsorships to four so that it can present itself".

The election of the FIF president has already been postponed several times since 2020, over the sponsorship system for candidates.

FIF had been placed under supervision in December 2020 by Fifa, which has since installed a "Normalization Committee".