Africa's football dreamers

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1:28Welcome to the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service. My name is Justice Beidou and this is Africa's Football Dreamers. I'm standing just outside a local church in Domi Pila 2. It's in the heart of Accra, Ghana's capital. So right in front of me is about 20 young kids who are running around after a football that is just about the size of a tennis ball. So I want to have a bit of a play with you guys, right? OK, so let's go. OK, OK, OK. The ball is so tiny, it's actually even hard to find where it is. it's really memorable watching and taking part in this it sends me back to more than 20 years ago when i was about 10 years old playing in the village where i grew up and this right here is the start of our journey that i'm going to take you on over the next one hour my name is justice and in this documentary for the bbc world service i will be asking how you can take a boy or girl form a neighbourhood like this one and transform him or her into a global football star.

2:48How do you give them the confidence, the resilience, the mental fortitude and the skill to go through the journey of becoming a football icon? Football for them, it means everything. I've been given unprecedented access to one of Africa's top football schools, the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana. We truly believe that there's talent in Africa and we are changing football. We are challenging the narrative of that. I will be travelling with their scouts as they look for the next World Cup superstars in rural Ghana, meeting their top talents as well as players taking their first steps in a professional game.

3:30This is Africa's Football Dreamers. It's my dream to play for Real Madrid and I know it will come true. I've been dreaming to play for them, to play in the Champions League, even to win the Ballon d 'Or. Yeah, my dream to win the World Cup with Ghana. I have big dreams that I want to achieve.

3:56We're heading to the Wright Dream Academy now. Finding this place is so hard because it has no signpost to show you. But I find it in the end. and turning off that dusty pothole road is like stepping into another world. I could see about five different football pitches, all lush green. They all looked recently mowed and tidied up. I arrive at the start of a football training session. Nearby, some boys juggle the ball between one another. Then a coach gathers them to play a game of piggy in the middle.

4:42A group of boys form a circle holding hands and try to pass the ball to each other before two boys in the middle can intercept it. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Let's go, let's go. Watching this fan warm-up game, I'm reminded of those young kids playing in the streets of Accra. That might seem like a bit of a stretch, but according to the head of the academy, Alex Esiedu, street soccer is at the heart of our identity as Ghanaian footballers. So we don't have all these fields you're seeing. You'll see them in most other places in Ghana. So we're used to playing in small spaces. And there are a lot of young kids around.

5:23So getting the ability to get out of that space with the ball from when you are age 2 up. By the time you're 10, 12, you are a fantastic midfielder. And I think that's how come, especially West Africa, comes up with such good midfielders. So we're used to getting our way out of trouble in small spaces. On the field and off the field too.

5:46Street soccer is coded into the way we play the game. that intricate tiki-taka style and when you combine it with our natural athleticism it's really no wonder that so many of the world's top players have guinean heritage you might think of today's stars like manchester city's antoine semino and jeremy doku but also legends like michael asian abedi ayu pelli sammy kufuo and tony yeboa to name a few Then there are all the players who have passed through this academy A lineup that includes Ghana Internationals Mohamed Kudus and Kamal Din Suleymana And Ivorian stars like Simon Adingra and Mohamed Diomande They are four of more than 260 students who have gone on to forge careers as professional players So I ask Alex, what is this academy all about?

6:46It's about helping young people achieve their dreams in a nutshell and achieving their dreams on the field and off the field. I think that with a lot of academies, it's more on the field. What we've done that is special is that there is an education pillar, apart from the football pillar, and we put as much emphasis on education as we put in football. So the bottom line is that we have a no-child-left-behind policy. So that's what makes this place unique. After all, even at this elite level, only a small number of teenagers are going to make it as pros and being released from an academy can be a crushing blow to a child who has pinned all their hopes on making it in football.

7:34Right to Dream takes the approach that while all children start the school hoping to become footballers, some will end up pursuing higher education instead. And it's not just for boys. Near where Alex and I are standing, the girls' team is practicing. This school was the first soccer academy in Africa to recruit girl players. And 13 of the 64 students are female.

8:06One of them is a shy midfielder with an efficient, unshowy style, Winifred. I'm Winifred Suda. and I'm 14 years old. I'm not like those when they take their ball, like they want to dribble before they pass. I'm not that type. I like playing simple. Take touch, I'll pass. Take the pass and support. That's how I am.

8:31How is it like for girls to play football? Tell me about it. They will say I'm a boy. They say because of football I'm a boy. Some people told me, some people even discouraged me. that football wasn't going to help me. What did they say? They said, why is it that only me am deciding to play football? But I didn't mind what they were saying. And my dad told me that if I put my mind to something, I have to make sure I do it and no one will discourage me. Yes! Come on! Good. Here's my class. Oh, nice. I'll see you now. Hello. After training, Winifred shows me around the school building The classrooms are all named after black icons like Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King.

9:20And for Ghana, they are well equipped. And yet we have computers that is for each one on their own. Everybody has a computer. Everybody has their computer. Although Winifred is a promising footballer, she is focusing on her education just as hard. She tells me she wants to win a scholarship to a U.S. high school and on to university. but she needs to prove herself over the next few months. I just have to work hard on both sides, football and school, because that place, I learned that it's 50 % school, 50 % football, and that's the type of school I want. That's why I'm really pushing. Right to Dream make the No Child Left Behind policy work by selecting students who show exceptional footballing and academic promise.

10:10And to find them, they have a scouting program which takes them to towns and villages across Ghana, where they watch thousands of children compete in tryouts for a fully paid scholarship to the school.

10:27I joined the school on a scouting trip, and my traveling companion is a Tanzanian man called Jamal. He is a softly spoken man with a gentle manner. But if you are a Ghanaian child who would love to be a pro-footballer, Jamal is one of the people who can make that happen. I'm the head of scouting for Right to Dream Ghana. So, so far on this particular session of the scouting, where have you been so far? Yeah, so far we've been doing a lot in Greater Akra region. And now we are heading now to do the Bronga Afri region, Ashanti region and the Northern region. So tell us, what's the journey ahead?

11:07How long is it going to take us to get to where we're going? I think approximately maybe seven, seven and a half hours. Yeah. Right. Jamal has asked me not to reveal where today's trial is taking place. Right to Dream is not the only academy trying to find the top talent. We travel through towns and forests before we pull up next to a dirt pitch filled with potholes. the place is already busy. I watch about 200 boys and a few girls compete in a series of hits which seven kids play against one another while Jamal and his team watch from the sideline. I ask him what he's looking for. So you look for the first touch, how he strikes the ball and how he passes.

11:56And then what does he do next? And that is how you look for the intelligent part of the player. But the chances of any of these kids going all the way are very small. We see a lot of players, sometimes over 50 ,000 players all over the country. And you pick five? Yeah, we pick five. Last year, 2024, was eight players, seven boys and one girl. So for young people in this area, what does football mean to them from your experience? Football for them, it means everything. For example, here, this is where Kamal Din came from. So they have like a role model who they can look for and they don't perceive this opportunity as a fan or like just to enjoy, but something to change their life and their family's life.

12:45Jamal is talking about Kamal Din Suleymana, who plays for Atlanta in Italy's top Serie A league. His career began on the same pothole pitch where he was selected by the academy. He plays for the Ghana national team too and will be playing for the Black Stars at this year's World Cup in the United States. Kamal Din is living the dream of every kid here and his presence is felt everywhere here. Not far away is a grand house that he built for his mother. A reminder of what success on a day like this can lead to. Everybody knows Kamal Din Suleyman.

13:27He is a Ghana player who plays for Liberty Professionals. He is a wonderful player. He played a justifier here on the pitch and they took him away. I feel happy whenever I see him on TV. It motivates me to play harder so that I can be selected just like him so that I can be chosen. These kids play for small local clubs, many of which lack even basic equipment and don't have the ability to fully develop the children's talent. The coaches know that they need Right to Dream to take their best kids to the next level. When you go to their training grounds, they have about 40, 50 boys and maybe girls.

14:20And then you only one or two boys. How can you develop the talent? This is local coach Swale Mohamed.

14:55So it's really possible that there are several people who have the born talent but will never ever be up there? Yes, because the talent can be wasted. So today is a make or break moment. So are you ready for the final? Yes. So no pressure. I want you to enjoy. Good luck. Thanks. Thanks. In the final of the tournament, one boy in particular makes an impression. A small 10-year-old called Foster Yeboah. Foster is fast on the ball and strong. He weaves his tiny body through the defenders crowding around as he moves the ball. He's a hard shooter and looks like a proper baller.

15:55Jamal makes the final selection of the day which means it's heartbreak for some so thank you so much, don't lose hope so go and put more effort and we'll come and see you next year again thank you so much

16:16There's one boy who's just been pulled out that he didn't qualify for the final, who's just broken down in tears. It's quite painful to watch. His friends come around him, and he's all in tears now. Next time, OK? Let's keep working hard, OK? Keep working hard. Don't cry, huh? Don't give up. We'll make it one day, OK? We make it one day. It's really heartbreaking for some of them. Yeah, it is, but we have to go with the reality. So it's heartbreaking, but we don't have a choice. One of the kids that was chosen was little Foster. But before he can proceed to the next stage, Right to Dream coach Jamal and his team want to meet Foster's parents to introduce themselves and also see proof of his age.

17:12So we pay a visit to his home. So I've just come into the compound house where Foster lives with his mother and father. So my name is Jamal. As part of our scouting today, we saw your boy Foster among the players that we selected. With the team in Foster's home already, it's drawing a lot of attention. many people are coming in.

17:45Watching on is Foster himself. The little 10-year-old is so shy he can only speak in a whisper. My name is Yabwa Foster. I was hoping that I would be selected. I was hoping they would take me away. My coach told me to do my best, So I would be selected. So that's Fosta, who looks very scared from the way that he looks like. Everybody following him to his house, finding about who he is. He looks like a young little lad who basically just wants to play football and enjoy himself. These meetings with families present a delicate moment. Too often, scouts have come to poor families with promises of football stardom that come to nothing.

18:40World football's governing body, FIFA, has rules that ban players moving abroad to play for clubs until they are 18. But families in Ghana are often unaware of those rules. And while European clubs must only work with licensed agents, that doesn't stop rogue operators from selling false dreams. There are obviously issues of, you know, people trafficking. Anyone can just come to Ghana, find a player and say, we're going abroad, I'm taking you to a team abroad. You know, it shouldn't be. This is my friend and former colleague, the sports journalist Fentuo Tahiru from Joy FM in Accra. Some of the agents abandoned them along the way.

19:25You have instances where players are asking relatives of money to come back home because they can't find the agent that took them there. Because the agent that took them there, they didn't manage to find a team for that. And he said, let me cut my losses. So they leave the player and then they go away and they can't find them. Underlying these horror stories is a view of talented African children as commodities to be discovered and traded. This is James Notte, the head of pastoral care at Right to Dream. For me, that's the colonial mindset. It's like, I'm coming there, not because I care for Africa, not because I care for the people.

20:04I want that thing that will benefit what I'm doing over there in Europe, and then I'll take it. I've heard there's gold there, and I'm going to go and find the gold and bring it. The unchanging coastline of the Gulf of Guinea borders a British colony, the Gold Coast, with the prospect of great changes ahead of it, changes that would bring to its new future a new name, Ghana. Ghana, which was formerly known as Gold Coast, was a colony until 1957, for the final century belonging to Britain. This contact with Europeans is of course how we got into football in the first place. But it's a dark history.

20:45Dotted along the coast are the old trading forts built by Europeans. The most profitable form of trade was not in gold but in men. For 400 years, Gold Coast endured the harsh realities of the global slave trade. Men and women selected for their physical attributes were sold and shipped abroad. They often spent months in the dungeons of these forts before being taken in chains from their homelands across the ocean to the West Indies and North America. This brutal history inevitably colours how I think about football migration. It is so important that Kenyan footballers have a say in their future, that they are fully rewarded for their value.

21:29It was against this background of exploitation that the Right to Dream Football Academy was set up more than 25 years ago. And it's this background that explains why the school emphasizes education as well as football. So we'll start now with the reading test. It's five weeks after my scouting expedition and I'm back at the Right to Dream Academy. This time I'm joined by about 50 children who have passed through all the regional trials and come here for two weeks of intense training and exams to select who gets the scholarships. And I'm delighted to see among them a familiar face. Foster is here, as shy as ever.

22:18One of the children that excels at the reading test is the small nine-year-old from Ashaiman, a slum area near Accra, where she lives with her father, a football coach. What's your name? Hallelujah Gospel Atopra Anak. Wow, that's an interesting name. So when they did the justify in Ashaiman, you went there to play? When the ride to dream people came to Ashaimov? Yes. They first picked me. First final, second final, third final. And this one they picked me. They picked you five times? They picked you? Yes. Yesterday did you pray? When you first came here did you pray? Yes. My father prayed for me and I prayed that I should pass.

23:06So that I'll go abroad and go and get money. I'll go abroad and go get money. The stakes are so high for these kids and facing them it's an intense two weeks during which time most of them will be sent home. But talking to those that have already made it into the academy I realize that pressure doesn't go away. It can be hard for students when they go back home where people wrongly think they have already made it as footballers and must be rich. People see me as a big woman, like a professional who is having money. Just all get, give me this, give me that, because we are in an academy where kudos used to play for.

23:52So they treat me different from the others. Right, that's interesting. How's your experience when you go home? When I go home, I try to humble myself and tell myself that I'm no one yet. I just have to keep working at them, stay humble. So I try to play barefoot with them on the same dusty pitches every day, We play with them, talk with them, yeah, every day. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service with me, Justice Beidou.

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26:21I am walking through one of the densely populated neighborhoods in Akra, Ghana's capital. It's a Sunday evening. Usually people are relaxed. Chickens are running around. I'm going to take you into a place which is a common sight in many Ghanaian neighborhoods like this one that shows the sheer passion that people in Ghana have for the game of football.

26:53I push aside a curtain and go through to a dark space where dozens of men are sitting in front of a big TV screen, watching something that is happening 3 ,000 miles due north in a city that perhaps none of them would ever visit. It's a game between long-term rivals Manchester City and Manchester United. And it's essential viewing here in Accra. So today, Manchester United has a lot of supporters here, but Manchester City doesn't have supporters. But Chelsea supporters, Arsenal supporters, Liverpool supporters would come here and ensure that City wins. And then they will keep the heat while Manchester United supports.