Inside Red Bull Salzburg’s Big African Pot of Endless Yields

Mali’s Sekou Koita flanked by Zambia’s Patson Daka and Enoch Mwepu

As Red Bull Salzburg waltzed past Lokomotiv Moscow 3–1 away from home, it wasn’t just the effervescence of their football that struck a chord, the presence of youth was interesting to see, and yes, they have many African youngsters.

They numbered up to six on the night, seven, when one includes German-Nigerian teenager, Karim Adeyemi.

Adeyemi’s path, however, is starkly different from that threaded by others from South, West Africa and Central Africa.

Salzburg have one of the soundest scouting systems of any European club in Africa. In the last four years, the least number of players they’ve taken abroad every year is four. In 2017, they took at least six players to Austria where they join their Academy team called Liefering before rising from the crumbs to become the bread of the lot.

The most notable names on their list are Liverpool stars, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita,!who like others, they made good money on. While both players didn’t go directly to Salzburg after leaving Africa, the club proved to be important stops in their careers.

The Austrian giants have since canceled an academy founded in Ghana, possibly for the lack of production but their ‘altruistic capitalism’ in Mali is creating a new generation of extremely talented African youngsters.

They create an enabling environment for growth, offer tutelage, provide free education, clothing, feeding and a token for the players to spend and in turn take them abroad to brighten their chances of becoming professional football players.

Against Lokomotiv Moscow, Malian youngster, Sekou Koita shone like a million star while Zambian, Enoch Mwepu also gave a good account of himself. They were just two of many that have stolen headlines like that.

While Koita, Hoffenheim’s Diadie Samassékou, who passed through the club, and Mohammed Kamara all came from AS Real Bamako in Mali, Mwepu and compatriot, Patson Daka came from the Kafue Celtic in Zambia.

Some months ago, the club also signed Nigerian teenage midfielder, Tijani Kazeem who has since been loaned to Hartberg.

Salzburg make a lot of money from selling these players and give them a platform to shine and make ascent to the highest pedestal of European football, like Mané and Keita – their poster boys.

Africa has a massive pool of football talents and the world has seen this.

In recent years, football clubs in Europe have been siting academies in African countries, with the hope of snapping up talents for business.

Mane and Mohammed Salah are just a few of the immense possibilities carried by Africa and there are hundreds of others who have talents as natural and hungry as the Liverpool duo, but need a platform and the right tutelage to shine.

Other than Salzburg, French club Metz have also seen a honeypot in West African Francophone countries where their yields have been making waves in Europe. Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (one of the most prized defenders in the world), Ismaïla Sarr and former Newcastle attacker Papis Cissé are some of the yields of the club from Senegal alone. All of these players were products of Dakar-based academy, Generation Foot with Metz.

These players not only get to achieve their dreams of becoming football stars, but they also do what they love and has the capacity to change their stories forever.

They are seen as great examples of what an African kid can achieve. Football is a religion and when a player stars, regardless of his colour, he’s a prophet of bliss. Fans worship him, like they do Mane and several other African stars who are stars at their clubs.

The football-mad kids on the streets, playing bare-footed and hardly with uniforms also get to build ambitions from the telly. They also want to be like those who shine abroad. And when they come home, they are greeted with cheers and love.

Most African state governments struggle to create jobs, and in some ways, solid academies in the continent help to establish a great course for progression for seemingly hopeless young men.

In Nigeria, FC Ebedei has also been a huge resource pool for Danish club side, Midtjylland, where players get to grow and move on to bigger things. Other small academies have also earned good deals through selling players to clubs in Europe. In Nigeria’s Northwestern city of Kaduna, there is a generation of talents that is probably the biggest in Africa.

In the early and mid-2000s, a generation rose from the streets of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital and it was the story that changed the fate of Ivorian kids, from one of obscurity to the glittering emergence of fame and fortunes. It also helped to build the Ivorian national team.

Generation Foot in Senegal and others have also done the same, and it’s never enough for this continent, with some of the poorest countries and people of the world, and kids, who just want to become stars from the swivelling of their legs, with smiles on their faces.

The pot is never full and the yields are never-ending. Such is the rate at which Africa spurs talents.