VARIOUS: SOCCER - PLAYERS FROM THE IVORY COAST TAKE MINOR BELGIUM CLUB BEVEREN TO THE CUP FINAL.
Record ID:
183488
VARIOUS: SOCCER - PLAYERS FROM THE IVORY COAST TAKE MINOR BELGIUM CLUB BEVEREN TO THE CUP FINAL.
- Title: VARIOUS: SOCCER - PLAYERS FROM THE IVORY COAST TAKE MINOR BELGIUM CLUB BEVEREN TO THE CUP FINAL.
- Date: 23rd May 2004
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF SOCCER STADIUM/FANS 2. (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) SUPPORTER SAYS: "It's an honour for us. Today, ASEC Mimosa has players participating in international champion leagues." 3. EXTERIOR ASEC MIMOSAS ACADEMY 4. PLAYERS PRACTICING 5. CUTAWAY PASCAL THEAUL
- Embargoed: 7th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST/ BEVEREN, BELGIUM
- City:
- Country: Belgium Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVACP1UIDBFXBZAZKBB5MOYLHIE8
- Story Text: Influx of Ivory Coast players take minor Belgian
club to the Cup Final.
Sunday's (May 23) Belgian Cup final will be between
Club Bruges and Beveren, a team which last won a trophy 20
years ago. Now the club has been boosted by an influx of
players from Ivory Coast, many of them from a soccer
academy with strong links to the Belgian club.
Several players who will feature in the final began
their careers with ASEC Mimosa in Abidjan and their fans
are getting ready to celebrate their countrymen's
achievements.
Since 1993, when the ASEC Mimosas Academy was founded,
there has been a regular stream of players transferring to
European clubs.
The Academy finds its recruits from the streets of
Abidjan, as well as from other youth football teams around
the country.
The candidates go through various trials, but once
chosen, know they have made the first step towards an
international football career.
Moussa is thirteen years old and is one of the
Academy's pupils. His football talents have not just taken
him off the streets, but have given him other opportunities
as well.
Moussa still lives in Williamsville in Abidjan with his
family. His father is a keen football supporter and has
been watching the changes in his son with interest since he
began at the academy.
Moussa's dream of playing football in Europe is
possible thanks to Jean-Marc Guillou, who founded the ASEC
Mimosa Academy. Guillou's speciality was in selling Ivorian
players to European clubs. But business was slow.
Guillou decided that by investing in a European club
himself, he could buy his own players from the Academy, and
so control and speed up the Ivorian transfers outside Africa.
The club he chose was Belgium's Beveren. And thanks to
his Ivorian players is it now one of the teams in the
Belgian Cup Final.
Bringing over his Ivorian players was a risky strategy
for Guillou. Twenty-five percent of Beveren's population
are rightwing and supporters of anti-immigration policies.
Along with the concerns of the club's management committee,
there was also the issue of what the fans would think.
But ASEC Academy's training emphasised technique, which
has been appreciated by the Belgian fans. But European
games are faster and training in Belgium focuses on
physical fitness, so the Ivorians have had to adjust.
The different approaches to the game have meant that
the mix of European and Ivorian players has to be just
right in order to work. But coping with cultural,
language, climate and game changes has not dampened the
Ivorians' spirits.
Beveren are making the last preparations for their
important match and some of their fans are optimistic they
can win the trophy. It's been a long road for Beveren players to
get from the streets of Abidjan to the Belgian Cup Final. As a new
generation of ASEC Academy pupils train, the only question
remaining is how many will make it to their European goals.
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