The end of the tunnel is near for Ivorian football. Postponed several times for two years due to an imbroglio on the candidate sponsorship system, the election for the presidency of the federation (FIF) should finally take place on April 23. It will pit six candidates, whose names have been validated by the body’s standardization committee. Among them are Didier Drogba, the former star striker of the national team. The other five applicants are Yatte Ellele Jean-Baptiste, Arnaud Aka, Laurent Kouakou, Idriss Diallo and Sory Diabaté. Didier Drogba gave a very unifying speech on Saturday April 9, after submitting his candidacy to the headquarters of the federation. “My candidacy is that of the unit, suggested the ex-Chelsea striker. I want to stay in the momentum of the development of Ivorian football inspired by the Head of State 10 years ago. The delivery of Ivorian football is for April 23. If on the evening of April 23 I am elected president of the FIF, I will reach out to the other candidates to work together. Unable to adopt a new governance, the FIF had been placed under the supervision of FIFA in December 2020. It had been managed since that date by a Standardization Committee, chaired by Mariam Dao Gabala. The latter will leave her post on Saturday, April 23, after the presidential election.
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