The Ivorian Minister of Sports on the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games: "Senegal is a benchmark in sports management"

Following the official opening of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the Ivorian Minister of Sports paid a courtesy visit on Monday, November 2nd, to the President of the Organizing Committee for the YOG, Mr. Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye. After their meeting, which lasted around an hour, Mr. Adjé Silas Metch offered his warmest congratulations to Mr. Ndiaye for the "perfect organization" of the Dakar 2026 YOG. He then asserted that Senegal is a benchmark in sports management.

“This is a courtesy visit we wanted to pay to our elder, President Diagna Ndiaye, to congratulate him on the organization of this major event, the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, for the flawless organization, and to tell him that he is a source of inspiration for us young Africans. We also wanted to explore how we can strengthen the Abidjan-Dakar axis, which he knows well, since he embodies this axis, so that we can organize similar sporting events, bringing our youth closer together and reinforcing the ties of cooperation between our two countries. That is the purpose of this visit,” declared Mr. Adjé Silas Metch, in the presence of the president of the Organizing Committee for the Youth Olympic Games.

He adds: “Senegal is a benchmark in sports management. Organization, management, development. That is why we, as Ivorians, with the experience we have built up around President Alassane Ouattara with the organization of the 2023 AFCON, want to see how we can exchange best practices and share our experiences in order to strengthen, in particular, the Abidjan-Dakar axis in the organization of major sporting events.”

When asked about a possible bid by his country to host the Youth Olympic Games, the Ivorian minister announced that Ivory Coast is also on his agenda.

"I think that in terms of sports, Ivory Coast has nothing to prove in our region."

The president of the COJOJ (Organizing Committee for the Youth Olympic Games), for his part, expressed his joy at the end of this courtesy visit. According to Mr. Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal are one and the same. "He said it all. I think that in terms of sports, Côte d'Ivoire has nothing to prove in our region, at least in West Africa. They played a masterful game at the AFCON," he emphasized.