An Ivory Coast Football Federation statement said it was nominating 60-year-old Anouma as a candidate and would put forward his name before the nomination deadline on Dec. 9.

However, it is not yet clear whether Anouma will be able to run after Hayatou, 66, engineered a change in the CAF statutes that allows only voting members of its executive committee to run for the presidency.

The change was overwhelmingly approved at a special CAF Congress in the Seychelles in September.

Anouma is a member of CAF's executive committee only because he serves as one the continent's representatives on the FIFA executive and he does not have any voting rights in CAF matters.

However in a series of recent media interviews, he has said the amendments passed were not legal and has been seeking to challenge their validity.

An attempt by Liberia, one of a handful of countries to vote against the amendment, to overturn the changes was rejected by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday because CAF's own appeal systems has not been exhausted.

Anouma, a former president of the Ivorian Football Federation, has long been touted as an alternative to Hayatou, who has been the head of African football since 1988.

Hayatou, from Cameroon, has twice before faced elections but kept his post easily with crushing wins. Despite recent medical problems, he has said he wants serve another term until 2017.

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