Although African countries have contributed an endless stream of talented players to world football, football has not brought huge returns to Africa. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In 2004, before Arthur, the CFA signed an agreement with an international sports television agency to sell the rights to the Africa Cup of Nations in ****** 2004, Egypt 2006 and Ghana 2008, and the company paid $5.5 million to the AFF for each edition.

In Africa, where GDP per capita is $904.3, such an income is also cheap.

In 2010, Arthur's previous Togolese football team was attacked in a terrorist attack on a bus, and the main reason for taking the bus was to save money.

In this journey of more than 640 kilometers, it will cost about 15,000 euros if you take a low-cost airline contacted by the organizing committee, and at least 10,000 euros can be saved by bus.

The Togolese Football Federation only receives 400,000 euros of funding every year through the Ministry of Sports and Youth, which is of course economical in terms of travel expenses, and the situation of the Togolese Football Federation is just a microcosm of the football associations of African countries.

Compared with poverty, African football faces a serious problem in corruption.

Senegalese star Diouf once said bluntly: "Senegalese football is now controlled by a lot of intrigues, and it is terrible that the players did not get the prize money after the two matches against Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations." ”

Diouf added: "The various football associations in Africa are not professional enough, they like the money that football brings in more than the football itself. ”

The poor football environment in the country has naturally led to the exodus of football talent, and in the European professional leagues, African players are the largest source of non-European players for foreign players, accounting for 19.6%; The top two players are from Eastern and Western Europe, with 29.7% and 28.7% respectively.

The brain drain in African football is significant, with 21 of the 23 players in this year's World Cup, Senegal, playing domestically and Morocco playing in Morocco.

At the same time, most African players play in leagues at a lower European level. 53.3% of the foreign players in the Romanian league in Eastern Europe are from Africa; In the island nation of Malta, the rate is 52.6%; In third place is Belgium in Western Europe, with a rate of 43.4%; This was followed by Switzerland and Albania with 33.7 per cent and 33.3 per cent, respectively.

Even though some young African players have been given the opportunity to earn money playing in professional European teams, they have been treated unfairly and exploited.

African player Timothy Atoba used to play for a club in Switzerland. Despite the clear rules on player wages, Atoba was paid only one-third of the minimum wage in the first season, rising to two-thirds in the second year.

Whenever Atoba was unhappy with his wages, team officials threatened to send him back to Cameroon if he raised the issue again.

Even FIFA President Sepp Blatter has accused some European clubs of neo-colonialist policies towards African youth footballers and exploitation of African players.

Years of stadium riots are a tragedy for African football, but the greater tragedy is that the price of blood has not been paid for an improvement in the environment.

In such an environment, will Arthur stubbornly follow the example of Bear Shot and Gremio in buying an African football club?

The answer, in fact, Arthur's mind is not formed, he is just ready to take a step and see a step.

Arthur's tentatively proposed Blackburn Rovers African satellite club is Abidjan Mimosa FC in Ivory Coast because of the Asec Mimosa Academy.

In 1993, Jean-Marc Giroux established the ASC Mimosa Academy.

The establishment of Asec Mimosa was of special significance, at a time when African clubs were rarely linked to European clubs. Giroux's academy in Africa in the early 90s was unconventional at the time, and his purpose was clear: to make stars.

He brought in Youssef Fofana for Asec Mimosa, an African player who is popular and has been an effective addition to Giroux's side.

Since then, Giroux has confirmed that there are plenty of talented youngsters in the West African country who can become superstars once crafted.

The establishment of a football academy in Côte d'Ivoire, where the sand is flying and overgrown with weeds, seemed a bit like a fantasy at the time. But Mimosa's academy has a huge advantage that other ordinary academies don't have: their ASEC club is one of the biggest clubs in African football.

The club is one of the most popular clubs in Ivory Coast, and players don't have to leave the academy to seek development on another continent as soon as they leave the academy. Because they are in Asec Mimosa they can participate in competitive enough competitions.

Asec Mimosa won the African Champions League in 1998, so when the opportunity to study abroad came, the players were in no hurry to leave, and they could continue to improve their game in their home countries.

However, it is unrealistic that most football talents would not choose to leave their careers to this land.

In response to the depletion of talent, a network of relationships between ASEC Mimosa and the Belgian club Beveren was established, as the export of players in large quantities would strengthen the links between Ivorian football itself and Europe.

In addition, Belgium has much more relaxed restrictions on foreign players than elsewhere, where youngsters can also get plenty of playing time instead of spending time on the bench and ending their careers early.

This is a peculiar reversal of the relationship between European clubs and clubs on other continents.

There are moral doubts about this approach, as some powerful sponsors will choose clubs that are in financial crisis and in dire need of a financial injection, and then the sponsor will pay very little money to buy ownership of the club.

In this way, the original club has become their new blood supply base, and the players who come out of it can take what they want.

Qatar's Aspire Academy has been bought 100% by Belgian kas_eupen, and the Belgian club can control the academy's first team, appoint their head coach and dictate local social affairs.

Manchester United have had similar partnerships, but not so fruitful. Manchester United are working with the Belgian club Antwerp, which they established in 1998 to send players who do not have a labor certificate because they lack the necessary international experience.

In Arthur's previous life, Dong Fangzhuo was loaned here for two and a half years until he was able to leave after he played enough games for the Chinese national team and obtained his labor certificate.

Undoubtedly, it was Arsene Wenger's Arsenal who achieved the greatest results from this partnership.

After taking charge of Highbury, Wenger used the partnership between the Gunners and Beveren to build a network of relationships with Giroux.

Starting at Solbeni, passing through Abidjan and Belgium and ending in north London, a chain of players will eventually be formed, while those who have just obtained an EU passport will be invited to London to train with Arsenal.

This kind of cooperation does not involve too much monetary relationship, it is a means of communication between clubs.

Young players can gain a lot of experience in London, while players who have just arrived in Belgium from Abidjan can also get a chance to play in another country.

Eboue and Kolo Toure are two of the most famous players in this collaborative chain. The latter had just signed with the Gunners in 2001, but at the age of 22 he was already captain of the national team, so he did not need a Belgian passport.

His younger brother, Yaya Toure, was still very young at the time, and the lanky midfielder had not yet gained enough experience in the game. He went to trial for Arsenal in 2003, but he had to wait many more years before joining English football.

Yaya Toure also did not want to wait any longer for a Belgian passport, and in the end he chose to join Ukraine's Donetsk metallurgical team.

Many have questioned the moral legitimacy of this chain of cooperation, but the only thing that is not controversial is the football education that the players receive once they enter the Academy.

Unlike other similar organisations around the world, there is a high bar to cross to get into Mimosa's Academy. There are only 34 youngsters registered in the academy and these lads will also receive more attention than other academies, which mostly operate as a whole.

There are medical facilities and a school for cultural classes to ensure that the players who come out of here have at least a primary school education. The lads are aged between 14 and 18, so the main task of the academy now is to prepare them for life beyond the academy and once they reach the standard they will move into the acec Mimosa senior team to continue their studies.

In the early 90s, when Giroud was just setting up the Mimosa Academy, he wanted Arsene Wenger to be his assistant. However, it is well known that Arsene Wenger chose to become Monaco's manager, where he showed his talent and ability to develop young people.

Under Arsene Wenger, came the world footballer of the year George Weah and the African footballer of the year Viktor Ikpeba. Giroux's charismatic style of football, which is highly entertaining, has also had a huge impact on world football trendsetters such as Jurgen Klinsmann and Hoddle, and Giroux soon established a way to sell his Academy players to Europe.

Although Arsene Wenger only spent a few months in Ivory Coast, he was instrumental in convincing Mozambique to fund the academy in Abidjan. Although the money injected into the Mimosa Academy at the time was nothing compared to the super-giants of modern football, it was enough to keep the academy running.

In the final part of the 20th century, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal had already taken the Premier League by storm, and the Gunners shone brightly under him, and at this time, Wenger and Giroud crossed paths again.

This time, while Beveren's plans to transfuse blood for the English club have been thwarted, the dream that the duo planned at Cannes 15 years ago to develop and harvest the best African talent continues.

Their ideas are understandable, and in Arthur's opinion, they are completely recommendable.

If only money is provided, a young player can fall in the process of development. But the philosophy of football education, which provided good players to London through Belgium, is still alive and little by little. This ensures continuity in the development of the players.

The differences in style between Giroud and Arsene Wenger complement each other well, with the former instilling in his players the idea of possession and a passion for the game, while the latter is responsible for the development of tactical discipline, the fitness of the players and the importance of developing players using the scientific method.

About a decade ago, there were accusations that the deal between Beveren and Arsenal was tantamount to child trafficking, but we should also remember that clubs like Beveren have to rely on bigger clubs like Arsenal if they are to survive.

Moreover, if the academy does not sell the players who have graduated, then the academy will not have enough money to survive.

"Money is everything," said salim_masoud, an African football journalist who works for The Telegraph and 442 magazine, "and it's hard to blame the players for prioritizing money, and if you've been in Africa, you understand what most people crave." The Academy doesn't plan to keep these talented players for long, and monetizing them is what they love to do. ”

This is indeed a double-edged sword.

The club's role as an intermediary could change, with 10 Ivorians in the starting line-up now in Beveren's squad, and most of the talented players they rely on for a transfer fee come from Academy academies like Mimosa.

Taking the opportunity and the hope of getting into the big team is an irresistible desire for a lot of young people, but most of them will be left behind.

The aim of many academies is to get kids through the system as quickly as possible so that their costs are kept to a minimum. In other words, these players only go through a few years of football training and minimal cultural education in the academy before they are sent to Europe.

There are unreliable agents who will often show up in Africa and tell a kid that he can send him to a lot of clubs in Europe. They would also meet with the child's family, take their big commission, and send the child to Europe. Once there, he would just leave the child alone in a strange city.

In this complex environment, the ASEC Mimosa Academy has become particularly different. It's a combination of education, entertainment, continuity and success, and they've produced some of Africa's greatest players of the last decade.

But Arthur knew that after the golden generation, the Asec Mimosa club win was gradually declining.

Why?

Because the future of globalization is becoming more and more obvious, it is gradually becoming easier to communicate between the worlds, and young players will not be able to concentrate on their growth at all.

Seeing the glory and crisis of the Asec Mimosa club, Arthur knew that this was his chance, so he came with confidence.