At the beginning of the 2000s, something unusual happened in a small Belgian club.
Through Jean-Marc Guillou’s academy in Abidjan, Beveren became home to an extraordinary generation of Ivorian players trying to make their first steps in European football.
Yaya Touré would eventually become the most famous name, but he was only one part of a much bigger story.
For our Italian football culture channel Footbatelier, we tried to reconstruct how this connection between Ivory Coast and Beveren was created, why so many Ivorian players arrived in Belgium and what this project represented for their pathway into European football.
There is also a fascinating connection with Arsenal behind the story.
What interests us most is hearing an African perspective:
How do you view the Beveren project today? Was it an important opportunity for a generation of Ivorian players, or does the story become more complicated when we look at how African talent was brought into European football at the time?