Ivorian football legend Didier Drogba will have to wait once again to know whether he will be able to contest for the Ivory Coast football federation (FIF) elections after they were postponed. The Chelsea legend is bidding to become the Ivory Coast football federation president.
The elections were originally planned for September 2020, but ongoing issues with the eligibility of candidates including Didier Drogba have delayed the process for 18 months. The last date set for the elections was March 23 before the latest postponement. As things stand, a new election date has not been fixed.
Amidst the ongoing election drama in the Ivory Coast football federation, world football’s governing body, FIFA, appointed a normalisation committee to oversee the running of football in the West African nation and the committee has been active since December 2020.
A joint statement from FIFA and African football body CAF was sent to the Ivory Coast football federation on Friday raising concerns over the election process, leading to the latest postponement.
On the postponement, Mariam Dao said that the postponement was necessary to find a proper response to the provision concerning the financial backers for the candidates including Didier Drogba. Dao is the president of the FIF normalisation committee. Speaking further, she said that the election process will resume soonest.
Ivory Coast are the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament hosts for next year with a June/July date already set and the football federation would be hoping to put its house in order in time to ensure adequate preparation for the tournament.
Ex-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who played 100 times for his country, was rejected as a candidate for the elections after two of his eight backers were found to have supported two other candidates. He earned a reprieve when FIFA put a stop to the election process.