Youth football: Club Olympique d'Alépé launches its academy

A libation opened the foundation stone ceremony for the Club Olympique d'Alépé academy, held on 19 November 2022 at Grand Alépé in the town of Alépé, east of Abidjan. After a year of hard graft, COA officials presented the local community with the facilities the academy now has, a project set to grow into a major club, according to the fond dream of its founder. "Club Olympique d'Alépé is delighted to welcome you to its facilities. We are working for the development of sport in Alépé. This ceremony is the culmination of a process that has been under way for a year and a half. Our dream was to see our region represented at the biggest sporting events. On 31 July 2021, we launched the Yann Aboa tournament to identify talent in the Alépé region. We toured the villages of the region with 16 teams put together for a tournament. The result is there to see today, but we will not stop there. We plan to start work on facilities for other sports," promised president Yann Aboa. He went on. "We had 106 players at the talent identification. After the trials, 49 talents were retained. A reserve team has been created. We also have a women's team to represent the COA colours," he said, concluding his address. Next, the representative of the president of the Ivorian Football Federation wished every success to this venture, which is helping youth football in Côte d'Ivoire to grow. "I thank you on behalf of president Idriss Diallo. For the Federation, it is a pleasure to see academies emerge because they are windows open onto the future. One day, one of the kids from this academy will perhaps play for the national team," said Ludovic Batelli, national technical director of the FIF. The COA has two pitches that meet international standards and will, in time, have an administrative building and dormitories with a maximum of 500 beds. There will also be basketball and handball courts.

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