“You don’t have to be president to make a difference,” Drogba said 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.“
Drogba aged 41, was formerly a striker at English Premier League club Chelsea and was capped 105 times by the national Ivorian side, according to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
Elections to appoint officials at the Ivorian Football Federation, currently headed by Augustin Sidy Diallo, are scheduled for November this year.
Drogba is one of Cote d’Ivoire’s most recognizable international soccer players. 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 would consider running for president, as former Arsenal player George Weah did in neighboring Liberia, Drogba said: “Today it’s not part of my plan.”
