In his aspirations to lead organized football in his native country, Didier Drogba failed to secure a single signature from his peers among the Football Player Association of Cote d’Ivoire. Unsurprisingly, this tragic story went viral, with most reactions in favor of Drogba, who is today one of the most successful global football players born on the African continent. In fact, Didier Drogba’s career in Europe and his leadership of the Cote d’Ivoire national team is quite legendary. He achieved record-breaking successes as a professional footballer: English Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, African player of the year, and notable participation in two FIFA World Cups. His resumé is no doubt one of the most enviable that any African player could dream of. Despite these successes, Drogba is struggling to secure a single signature from the various football associations that the by-laws of the federation require to validate candidates for the presidency of the Ivorian Football Association (FIF). That bureaucratic stipulation seems very reasonable and anachronical, but it also raises an important question. What pedigree should someone have to be eligible for the presidency of the FA in Cote d’Ivoire? This question may seem casual but it stimulates important issues that reveal the complexities of the leadership of football in Africa.
Even before tracing Drogba’s miscalculation, it might be useful to first ask the question: From a management perspective, what does a footballer represent in the football system? In general, a player has a unique and privileged position. The players are the core of football entertainment. Their competitions, performances, and commodifications— more recently social media engagements and personas— is the raison d’etre for all economic, commercial, and social activities of organized football. Leagues, sponsorship, media broadcasting, and all activities around football are determined by players’ competition. The covid-19 pandemic that forced the suspension of all competition illustrates this point and showed the extent to which players are the heart of the game. This undeniable reality gives them a uniquely paradoxical status that brings immense privileges and fragilities.
The requirement that players perform at the highest level on the field reinforces those benefits and privileges; however, there is little pressure on them to be responsible off the field independent of the football environment and their professional careers. So a cocoon is constructed around them to ensure that nothing disturbs or disrupts their performance. Beyond that the world hardly exist. This invariably and unwittingly creates a paradox that makes them quite fragile. Their value and the attention that they receive are intrinsically linked to their present performance and competitiveness. Therefore, the cocoon by nature is fragile and is susceptible to bust once the player’s performance does not match management’s expectation. Also, that paradox has another set of characteristics that contributes to the fragility of the footballer as an individual, not a commodity. The very stringent physical, mental, and social regiments required to perform at a very high level are also quite incapacitating.
In fact, elite athletes who are in that cocoon are very unlikely to learn any other skill beyond their sport. Their entire life is intensively embedded in their particular sports industry or ecosystem. They are programmed to perform a singular central role. They have no managerial, business or organizational responsibilities. Sports organizations don’t expect and don’t have the desire to have their players become involved in any managerial activities. A professional football player in a sports organization is the most exclusive role. Beyond performing, the most successful athletes will recruit professionals to manage all aspects of the careers. Agents, physiotherapists, financial managers, and other professionals will manage other aspects of their career. Consequently, it is difficult for a player, through his career, to acquire the managerial skills required to lead a major organization. Admittedly, the exposure that players get from interfacing with individual sports organization managements and structures can be an important learning opportunity. Unfortunately, it is routine for professional sport organizations to not involve their players in any significant aspect of management. The only micro structure to involve the players may be the coaching staff. At the most, experienced and influential players may be consulted for playing and recruitment decisions.
The career of an elite football player has immense value in terms of exposure to the best management professional clubs, which are run tightly like mega businesses. Beyond that exposure though, there is no direct acquisition of the type of managerial skill or experience that would support a transition from a career player to a career manager. Indisputably, Drogba has exceptional player credentials, which makes him an automatic member of the football ecosystem. His career also gives him genuine credibility as football royalty. Notwithstanding, his career is not sufficient credentials to guarantee managerial skills and competencies and doesn’t warrant an entitlement. In general, sports managed by retired professional is appreciable and should be encouraged, but they should be given the adequate preparation and skills to take up these responsibilities. With the increased commodification and complexification of professional sport, leaders must have proven successes in managing large political and commercial entities. Drogba, having been an athlete without a quality education in sports administration, falls short. The international football ecosystem— with its businesses, economics, politics, and sociologies increasingly intertwined require a broader understanding of the sport in modern society and a wider and deeper skill set. This reality directly impacted Drogba’s unsuccessful bid to run for the presidency of the FIF.
Born in Cote d’Ivoire but raised in France, he has a valuable perspective and approach to football in Cote d’Ivoire. He showed that through his leadership of the Ivorian national team and the glamour of what a successful national team could have in Africa. Notwithstanding, Unlike many of his former teammates who came out of local football academies that gave them extensive experience of club football in Cote d’Ivoire, Drogba is mostly a product of the European system. This positioned him as an outsider, out of touch with the reality of football in Cote d’Ivoire. These differences are not inconsequential. They contributed significantly to the fragility of his candidacy. They illustrate to some extent his handicap in effectively networking with the various stakeholders and convincing them to support his candidacy. Competing with long-time executives of football in Cote d’Ivoire, he confronted the sociological complexity of African societies and contemporary organizations. That template is often a mixture of parameters delineated by personal interests, long time relationships, financial rewards, friendships, and political affiliations. On a wider scale, it is a complexity inherent in contemporary African institutions, organizations, and sport’s governing bodies.
In Africa, leading a football association is less and less about football. Football is often a means to reach an end, which includes political positioning, financial rewards, individual privileges and obese egos. Consequently, football governing bodies in Africa are major national stakeholders. The national team, the main project of the federations, is important politically for the incumbent government. Victories or qualifications to major competitions are appropriated by the government and considered the result of its sport policies and a symbol of political success. Populations are often complicit in this cooption and contribute to the politization of losses or wins of the national football teams. Football is such an important pillar of national politics that the government in all circumstances will ensure the financial and logistical support of the national football team, even when the budgetary allocations of the ministry and the federation are insufficient. The post-independence approach to sports function foremost to internally serve the image of a government, its ministry of sports, and eventually the president of the federation.
The financial cachet of a football federation in Africa is also a contributing factor to the complexity of a contest to lead the federation. In fact, the geopolitics of FIFA has allowed African federations a significantly larger financial allocation. The FIFA allocation to African FA has increased from one million USD to more than six million USD[1]. In the context of African football, where financial allocation and revenues are meager, these amounts are substantial resources for the management of an FA. When direct mismanagement for personal gain does not occur, these monies potentially favor self-allocated privileges. Furthermore, in countries with limited social-economic ladders outside politics, with just a few large organizations, football federations are increasingly opportunities for socio-political and economic ascension.
Between politics and economics, an election to lead a football federation is no longer a selection of a good candidate with a vision and the drive to lead the most popular sport in a country. It is more and more an intricate web of power hubs where hierarchical relationships, self-positioning, and divergent interests play important roles.
Didier Drogba may have been convinced that his football popularity and financial leverage would have been enough to penetrate this web. He may have assumed that he had a fair chance to compete to become the president of the FIF. Unfortunately, he was forced to confront some hard truths. Perhaps foremost among them is the limitations of his popularity and wealth beyond the football pitch, and then the complexity of a football system he underestimated and misunderstood. Like other candidates, his intention to lead the FIF was driven with noble intentions; however, his handicaps were too big to dismiss simply by his historical achievements on the football field and his global popularity. African football governance is as complex as African societies and politics. Drogba may have his chance another time, but he has to get his hands dirty with football in Cote d’Ivoire and take several mini and big blows before he reaches that level of leadership, in a country with a culture much more complex than well-oiled football leagues and organizations.
[1]“ An investment of USD 6,000,000 per member association for the four-year cycle to support operational needs and development projects whilst an additional USD 1,000,000 is allocated to those member associations with an annual revenue of USD 4 million or less in order to support their travel and equipment needs.” https://www.fifa.com/what-we-do/fifa-forward-programme/