Tanzania has designated former Chelsea star Didier Drogba as the ambassador of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations which the country will co-host along with Kenya and Uganda, APA learnt on Thursday.
According to local media, President Samia Suluhu made a personal request to that effect to the Ivorian legend who is tasked with promoting Africa’s premier football tournament.
By appointing him, the Tanzanian govenrment is looking to boost the country’s international profile, and improve tourism prospects through the course of the tournament.
Football sources say Drogba has attended a meeting with the country’s sport minister over his role before and during the tournament, the first in East Africa for fifty years.
Ethiopia was the region’s last host of the tournament in 1976.
Drogba, a retired captain of the Ivorian national team was runners-up in the tournament to Egypt in 2006 and Zambia in 2012.
WN/as/APA