diff --git a/etc/ORG-NEWS b/etc/ORG-NEWS
index dbf849422..fc2ff9e00 100644
--- a/etc/ORG-NEWS
+++ b/etc/ORG-NEWS
@@ -999,6 +999,18 @@ even though it does not have its own ID.  By giving files top-level id
 properties, links to headlines in the file can also be made more
 robust by using the file id instead of the file path.
 
+*** New option ~latex-default-footnote-command~ to customize the LaTeX footnote command
+
+This new option allows you to define the LaTeX command the Org mode
+footnotes are converted to (for example ~\sidenote{%s%s}~ instead of
+the default ~\footnote{%s%s}~).
+
+The option can be customized either by
+
+1. setting the global variable in the ~org-export-latex~ customization
+   group or
+2. by setting the file local keyword =LATEX_FOOTNOTE_COMMAND=
+
 ** New features
 *** ~org-paste-subtree~ now handles =C-u= and =C-u C-u= prefix arguments specially
 
diff --git a/lisp/ox-latex.el b/lisp/ox-latex.el
index 5c19e1fe7..cdbf65cf6 100644
--- a/lisp/ox-latex.el
+++ b/lisp/ox-latex.el
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
     (:latex-default-table-environment nil nil org-latex-default-table-environment)
     (:latex-default-quote-environment nil nil org-latex-default-quote-environment)
     (:latex-default-table-mode nil nil org-latex-default-table-mode)
+    (:latex-default-footnote-command "LATEX_FOOTNOTE_COMMAND" nil org-latex-default-footnote-command)
     (:latex-diary-timestamp-format nil nil org-latex-diary-timestamp-format)
     (:latex-engraved-options nil nil org-latex-engraved-options)
     (:latex-engraved-preamble nil nil org-latex-engraved-preamble)
@@ -667,6 +668,17 @@ The function result will be used in the section format string."
 
 ;;;; Footnotes
 
+(defcustom org-latex-default-footnote-command "\\footnote{%s%s}"
+  "Default command used to insert footnotes.
+Customize this command if the LaTeX class provides a different
+command like \"\\sidenote{%s%s}\" that you want to use.
+The value will be passed as an argument to `format' as the following
+  (format org-latex-default-footnote-command
+     footnote-description footnote-label)"
+  :group 'org-export-latex
+  :package-version '(Org . "9.7")
+  :type 'string)
+
 (defcustom org-latex-footnote-separator "\\textsuperscript{,}\\,"
   "Text used to separate footnotes."
   :group 'org-export-latex
@@ -780,7 +792,6 @@ default we use here encompasses both."
   :group 'org-export-latex
   :type 'string)
 
-
 ;;;; Tables
 
 (defcustom org-latex-default-table-environment "tabular"
@@ -2239,7 +2250,7 @@ CONTENTS is nil.  INFO is a plist holding contextual information."
       (t
        (let ((def (org-export-get-footnote-definition footnote-reference info)))
 	 (concat
-	  (format "\\footnote{%s%s}" (org-trim (org-export-data def info))
+	  (format (plist-get info :latex-default-footnote-command) (org-trim (org-export-data def info))
 		  ;; Only insert a \label if there exist another
 		  ;; reference to def.
 		  (cond ((not label) "")