I'want to be President of Ivorian FA not country-Didier Drogba

Former Chelsea star and Ivorian icon, Didier Drogba has announced his intentions to contest his country’s top footballing job when nominations are opened for contest in November but has played down talks of emulating George Weah by contesting for the nation’s presidency.

Didier Drogba represented Ivory Coast 150 times and is his country’s all-time top scorer but now wants to step into the murky waters of African football administration.

“You don’t have to be president to make a difference,” Drogba said Thursday at a French business school event in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan. “I think it’s important to have more options and then focus on my main goal right now, which is to be the president of the football federation.“

Elections to appoint officials at the Ivorian Football Federation, currently headed by Augustin Sidy Diallo, are scheduled for November.

Drogba is a widely adorable figure in Ivory Coast as he is credited for helping restore peace in Ivory Coast when civil war broke out with a televised talk to the nation after qualifying for the world cup for the first time in 2006 Germany. His face adorns billboards across the country endorsing companies including French telecoms operator Orange SA and Standard Chartered Bank Plc.

Asked at the forum whether in future he’d consider running for president, as former Arsenal player George Weah did in neighboring Liberia, Drogba said: “Today it’s not part of my plan.”