One of the most common problems in African football is elections for the presidency of the Football Association. From North, South, East and West, there is always some brouhaha whenever the call for elections is made.

In some quarters, incumbents have resorted to overt arm-twisting tactics to amend the regulations to their favour, or in support of a preferred candidate. For others, support from the powers-that-be notably Government in favour of a particular candidate often makes the entire electoral process dominate the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Before the end of the year, elections are due for a couple of African FA’s with the likes of Burkina Faso having gone to the polls few weeks where Lazare Bansee was elected president replacing Sita Sangare, who served two terms.

The outbreak of Covid-19 and backroom challenges has led to the rescheduling of the polls in some FA’s notably Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Zambia.
However, it is the one of Cote d’Ivoire that has made global headlines by virtue of the interest shown by Ivorian legend and two-time African Player of the Year, Didier Drogba, for the biggest football position in the West African country.

The genesis of the story

The tenure of the current president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) Augustine Sidy Diallo has ended. Diallo, president since 2011, is not going for another mandate having served two terms.

The battle for the FIF presidency has garnered unexpected attention following the announcement by Drogba to join the race.

The 42-year old is hoping to become the first footballer to assume the top seat of the administration of football in his country joining the likes of Kalusha Bwalya (former Football Association of Zambia president), Walter Nyamilandu (current president of Football Association of Malawi and FIFA Council member) amongst others.

Drogba is by far the biggest name in Ivorian football the last decade having led the Elephants to three successive FIFA World Cup (2006, 2010 and 2014), and reaching the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2012. Before announcing his retirement in August 2014, the forward made 105 appearances scoring 65 goals, which is a record.

He is ranked amongst the biggest African exports to Europe and is famous for his stints with Marseille and Chelsea, where he won the UEFA Champions League (2011/12 season), joining the elite class of Africans to have won the Holy Grail of global club football.

He cut his teeth in football management in April 2017, when he became a minority owner of United States outfit Phoenix Rising, becoming the first player-owner in the history of the game.

FIF draws timeline

At the 58th FIF Ordinary General Assembly held in the Ivorian capital, Yamoussoukro, on 5 July 2020, the Election Committee was constituted with Rene Diby, a former Minister of Sports and one-time FIF president name chairman.

Ernest Kouassi Kaunan, a magistrate was named his deputy. Others members are Mamadou Soumahoro (president of the Conference of presidents of Sports Federations), Lucien Boguuinard (General Secretary, National Sports Council), Abel Yeo (Magistrate), Antoine Niamien (Lawyer) and Irie Bi Toh (ex-footballer) with Sam Etiasse (Executive Director, FIF) as Secretary.

At the GA, the roadmap for the elections was approved with the elections fixed for 5 September 2020 with 81 delegates eligible to vote.

Eligibility of candidates

As stipulated in Article 41 Chapter II of the FIF Statutes and Regulations, a candidate for the position of the presidency must be endorsed by at least eight members of FIF made up of the following;

- Three (3) clubs from Ligue 1
- Two (2) clubs from Ligue 2
- Two (2) clubs Ligue 3
- One (1) from Interest Groups

Candidates had between 20 – 31 July 2020 to submit their applications. It was extended to 1 August 2020 due to the Eid-ul-Adha holidays.

What are the Interest Groups?

There are five Interest Groups recognized by FIF as stipulated in the statutes. They are as follows;

i. Union of Former Footballers of Côte d'Ivoire (UAFCI )
ii. Association of Ivorian Footballers
iii. Coaches and other technicians Association
iv. Sports Medicine Association
v. Association of Football Referees of Côte d'Ivoire (AMAFCI)

It must be recalled that since 2011, when Diallo was elected FIF president, the Interest Groups have played a huge role in the electoral process. As stated in Article 41 of the FIF Statutes, every candidate must obtain at least one endorsement from any of the five Interest Group for the application file to be deemed complete.

Suspension of Electoral Process

On 11 August 2020, FIF president Diallo announced the suspension of the Electoral process after a meeting of the FIF Emergency Committee, citing some irregularities in the entire process, calling for an Extraordinary General Assembly for 29 August 2020 to plan the way forward.

He cited factors such as the lack of notification by the Election Committee, within the time limit prescribed by the provisions of the electoral code, from its decision to the various candidates for the presidency of the FIF as well as serious and repeated violations of the provisions of Articles 2 and 8 of the Electoral Code.

Resignation of Election Committee chairman

On 25 August 2020, Chairman of the Election Committee Diby announced his resignation, further casting a slur on the entire electoral process.
According to report, the former Minister of Sports refused to conduct a new process for candidates for the FIF presidency, and was in support of the work done on 9 August 2020 when he chaired the committee. Diby was said to be against the disqualification of candidates and wanted all persons cleared to contest contrary to the statutes.

Confirmation of Candidates

On Thursday, 27 August 2020, the Election Committee with Kaunan as chair announced the qualified candidates for the FIF presidency from the applications received from four persons: Sory Diabate, Idriss Yacine Diallo, Paul Koffi Kouadio and Didier Drogba.

The applications of Diabate and Diallo were approved whilst that of Kouadio and Drogba were rejected.

According to the Committee, disqualified candidates had a period of five (5) working days upon receipt of the decision to appeal.

Suspension of the electoral process by FIFA

On 29 August 2020, FIFA in a letter signed by General Secretary Fatma Samoura called for the immediate suspension of the electoral process.

"Some say that the Election Committee has been prevented from carrying out its activities in peace and independently because of interference from third parties", the FIFA letter said whilst requesting for the a number of documents such as minutes of the ordinary GA held in Yamoussoukro, the list of members of the Election Committee, minutes of the meeting of the Election Committee of August 8, minutes of the meeting of the Election Committee of August 25, the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the FIF which would have taken place after that of the Election Committee of August 8.

Why Drogba was disqualified?

There has been so much furore over the disqualification of Drogba from the election race. Whilst many have cited hatred for the legend by some persons who are against the involvement of footballers in the running of the game. However, there is far more to that.

Our sources have revealed that the revered striker failed to produce the needed endorsement to back his candidature with some elements of fraud exhibited in the process. It is no doubt that he is a great player however, the law should be applied for all candidates irrespective of status.

Drogba’s application had some question marks regarding his endorsement by the Interest Groups and Ligue 1 clubs.

Of the five Interest Groups, the Union of Former Footballers of Côte d'Ivoire (UAFCI ) and Association of Football Referees of Côte d'Ivoire (AMAFCI) endorsed the candidature of Diabete whilst Association of Ivorian Footballers (AFI) and Coaches and other technicians Association rooted for Diallo.

Strangely, Drogba’s application was also endorsed by AMAFCI. In his case, the file was signed by one Danon Roland, who heads a steering committee of the referee’s body, instead of Coulibaly Souleymane who was elected chair of the association on 12 May 2018 for a four-year term.

It must be recalled that the Executive Bureau of the AMAFCI at its meeting on 13 June 2020 unanimously declared their support for Diabete. Therefore, this makes the endorsement of Drogba by Danon null and void, thereby warranting his disqualification for not fulfilling one of the requirements.

On the issue of Africa Sports, two officials of the club, Alexis Vagba and Antoine Bahi endorsed the applications of Diabate and Drogba respectively.

Investigations by the FIF Elections Committee revealed that Vagba is the President of the Executive Committee of Africa Sports, and therefore has the mandate to endorse a candidate instead of Bahi, who is the Vice Chairman of the Football section of Africa Sports.

In that case, Drogba yet again failed yet another mandatory requirement of support by three (3) Ligue 1 clubs.

Pressure from External Forces

There has been pressure from external forces to get Drogba onto the ballot for the FIF presidency. Being a close associate of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, his ascendency to the FIF position is seen to be a perfect nurture ground for the CAF Presidency in 2021.

The Ivorian is reported to be a favourite of Zurich for the next CAF President. This is because Infantino has never hidden his love for legends which has seen the establishment of the FIFA Foundation to bring the ex-footballers close to the powers of the game. It is no wonder that Drogba was appointed by Infantino as a Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Stakeholders Committee during the FIFA Congress in Mexico in 2016.

The Association of Ivorian Footballers (AFI) under the leadership of former Elephants defender Cyril Domoraud has not been left out the pressure from voices from afar.

As one of the five interest groups, many expected the AFI to endorse the candidature of Drogba, who is Honorary President of FIFPro Africa; but the AFI gave their support to Diallo to the chagrin of all. The choice raises some question marks as to how the AFI can ignore one of their own in support of another candidate.

This development drew the ire of FIFPro Africa who distanced themselves from the decision of the AFI. Few days later, the axe of the global body, FIFPro will fall on the AFI, with the West African body suspended for not support Drogba.

The question is why is everyone trying everything possible to get one person – Drogba- onto the ballot at all cost? The Ivorian Electoral Code gives an opportunity for disqualified candidates to appeal the decision.

Drogba didn’t appeal only for FIFA to come in and suspend the whole process.

What happens to the other disqualified candidate, Paul Koffi Kouadio? Is it because he is no big name, he has been left to his fate?