ASEC Mimosas: The super club of the Ivory coast on and off the field.

Despite being one of the poorest countries in Africa, Ivory Coast has been a stalwart of African football. Appearing in the three past World Cups and winning two African Cup of Nations championships in 1992 and 2015. Some of Ivory Coast’s most notable players include former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure, and Hertha Berlin forward Salomon Kalou.

One club that has been at the center of producing notable players that go on to represent the Ivory Coast internationally is ASEC Mimosas.

Club Roots

ASEC Mimosas stands for the Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas or the Mimosas Commerce Employees’ Sporting Association. The club was founded in Abidjan on January 1st 1948 by businessmen from West Africa, Lebanon, and France.

The club’s colors are yellow and black with a drawing of a Mimosa (a flower that grows in the Ivory Coast). ASEC claims to have over 8 million fans in the Ivory Coast alone. These fans are called the Actionnaires and they are organized in the CNACO (Comité National d`Action et de Coordination, = National Committee for Action and Coordination). The CNACO has about 40,000 members and consist of 350 chapters. ASEC’s biggest rival is Africa Sport from Abidjan and their rivalry is considered the most important in the Ivory Coast. ASEC has won 25 Ligue 1 (Ivory Coast) Championships in its history and one continental crown in 1989.

ASEC used to play their home games at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in the late 1990’s, which holds up to 45,000 people but due to the lack of interest in domestic league from the draw of the the Premier League as well as other factors (like poor quality of play), ASEC now shares the Stade Robert Champroux with Africa Sports, Stade d’Abidjan, Stella Club d’Adjamé, and Jeunesse Club d’Abidjan. The Stade Robert Champroux only holds 3,000, a far cry from the giant stadium they once called their permanent home.

📷*The Stade Robert Champroux

Sol-béni & ASEC’s thriving academy era. 

The club’s origins come from a place called Sol-béni in Abidjan-M’Pouto, which is the name of their training ground. Despite being founded in 1948, ASEC didn’t have an academy or a permanent training ground until 1993. The academy was founded by French midfielder Jean-Marc Guilou who played for France in the 1978 World Cup and Roger Ouégnin. Jean joined the club as director, manager, and financier while Roger became chairman.

Since then the Académie MimoSifcom has produced many world class talents. This is due to the emphasis the academy has on training student-athletes. Throughout a player’s youth career at ASEC, players are given an education that involves math, history, geography, physics, French, Spanish, and English. Players live in dorms during the week and have two training sessions a day. The academy players also train near the first team, emphasizing how much the club values its future talent. This set-up not only allows players to become educated but also young soccer players specialize in their given positions during their most important stages of development.

📷*ASEC student-athletes in the classroom.

With this integrated set-up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic and cultural hub, it should be of no surprise that the club has produced some of the world’s best players in recent times. Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré was in the ASEC Mimosas youth academy from 1996-2001 before moving to Belgian club KSK Beveren. Yaya’s brother Kolo was also in the academy. The Touré brothers are just one example of many great Ivory Coast players coming from the academy that have prospered in the bright lights of Europe.

Despite their thriving academy the club hasn’t won a continental championship since their 1989 CAF Champions League title. That championship winning team included forward Abdoulaye Traoré, midfielder Donald-Olivier Sié, and defedner Basile Aka Kouamé who all played pivotal roles in Ivory Coast’s 1992 Africa Cup of Nations triumph. ASEC even without an academy at the time was still the backbone of football in the Ivory Coast.

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With the current headwinds that face the domestic game, ASEC’s story has the power to inspire other clubs  to create sustainable academies and raise the profile of football in the Ivory Coast.

To watch ASEC Mimosas in action go to https://www.youtube.com/user/asecwebtv/videos

To watch highlight from Ligue 1 (Ivory Coast) from the FIF go to https://www.youtube.com/user/FIFCI1/videos