ASEC Mimosas

The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Ivorian football club based in Abidjan. The club is also known as ASEC Mimosas Abidjan and ASEC Abidjan, especially in international club competitions. Founded in 1948, they are the most successful side in Ivorian football, having won the Ivorian Premier Division 24 times and the 1998 CAF Champions League. In addition, ASEC's Académie MimoSifcom has produced a number of famous players predominantly based in top foreign leagues, including Bonaventure Kalou, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboué, Bakari Koné, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Romaric, Boubacar Barry, Didier Ya Konan, Kolo Touré, Yaya Touré and Odilon Kossounou, all of whom have played internationally.

ASEC MIMOSAS

Full name	Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce
Nickname(s)	Les Mimos^[1] Les Jaunes et Noirs (The Yellow and Blacks)
Founded	1935; 88 years ago (1935)
Ground	Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Capacity	50,000
Chairman	Roger Ouégnin
Manager	Julien Chevalier
League	Ligue 1
2019–20	Ligue 1, 3rd of 14
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

ASEC Mimosas was founded on 1 January 1948 by a group of businessmen from Western Africa, Lebanon and France. The club originates from a place called Sol-béni (French for Holy Ground) in Abidjan-M'pouto, which today is the name of their training complex.^[2] In the following years, ASEC competed in the Championship of Abidjan together with their eternal rival Africa Sports, with their first professional coach being Frenchman Guy Fabre in 1954. Fabre also shaped the club's philosophy of que les enfants s'amusent... en jouant au football (may the children have fun... by playing football).^[3]

After Independence in 1960, ASEC won its first title in the newly found Premier Division in 1963. In the early 1970s, ASEC rose to power by winning the league title 5 out of 6 possible times from 1970 to 1975. This was the era of players as Laurent Pokou and Eustache Manglé. In the next years, it was Africa Sports who dominated the league, with ASEC winning only once in 1980.

On 19 November 1989, advocate Roger Ouégnin was elected as club president. In his wish to professionalize the club, he introduced Philippe Troussier as coach from 1989 until 1992. This was the time for ASEC to return to old strength, winning the championship six consecutive times between 1990 and 1995. ASEC also provided the backbone of the national team that won the 1992 African Cup of Nations, including key members of the side such as Ben Badi, Donald-Olivier Sié and Basile Aka Kouamé. After having qualified for the semi-finals already five times before, ASEC finally won the CAF Champions League in 1998. For some players, this was the chance to sign for a European club, for example team captain Tchiressoua Guel, who joined Olympique de Marseille afterwards. A few years later, ASEC beat their own record by winning the league seven consecutive times between 2000 and 2006.

In 1993, former French national player Jean-Marc Guillou joined the club staff as director, manager and financier. Together with chairman Roger Ouégnin, he founded the Académie MimoSifcom at Sol Béni. In the following weeks, they started to scout amongst thousands of young kids to form the first promotions to receive coaching and education. In 1999, following ASECs success in the 1998 Champions League, ASEC faced Espérance Sportive de Tunis in the CAF Super Cup. But most of the old players were aged, had left the club or at least wanted to. So Guillou and Ouégnin decided to replace the old squad with the first products of the academy, most of them only aged around 17/18 years. The owners protested against this measure and Espérance's president Slim Chiboub called it a "scandal to be playing against children". However, the young ASEC squad surprisingly beat their opponents by 3 to 1 goals and brought in the second big international title for their club.^[4] Amongst others, Boubacar 'Copa' Barry, Kolo Touré, Didier Zokora, Gilles Yapi Yapo, Siaka Tiéné, Abdoulaye Djire, Venance Zézé, and Aruna Dindane were part of that squad.

When Guillou became manager of Belgian side K.S.K. Beveren in 2001, many of the academy's players joined him. As a result, the Belgian team consisted mainly out of Ivorian players for several years. These could use Beveren as a chance to show their talent to top European clubs. Players as Yaya Touré, Arthur Boka, Emmanuel Eboué, Gervinho, Romaric and Copa all had their time in Beveren. This lasted until 2006, when Guillou and Beveren broke up with ASEC Mimosas. ASEC then linked up with Charlton Athletic.^[5]

Satellite clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with ASEC:

•   Charlton Athletic^[6]
•   Feyenoord Fetteh^[7]

Académie MimoSifcom

ASECs youth academy has been described^{[by whom?]} as the crown jewel of African football. The academy started by Roger Ouégnin and Jean-Marc Guillou in 1993 at ASEC's training complex has since produced many international stars. The student-athletes are given an education, for which they take classes in math, history, geography, physics, French, English, and Spanish. The students live in dorms during the week and have two training sessions a day. They play matches on Saturday and get health care and tutoring.

Current squad

As of 30 December 2022^[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   CIV Amine Diakite 3 DF   CIV Fofana Halassane 4 DF   CIV Wonlo Coulibaly 5 DF   CIV Kouassi Attohoula Yao 6 MF   CIV Mohamed Zougrana 7 MF   BFA Bakary Kone 8 FW   CIV Sankara Karamoko 9 FW   CIV Trésor Mofosse 10 MF   BFA Salifou Diarrassouba 11 MF   CIV Josphat Arthur Bada 12 MF   BFA Ibrahim Bance 13 DF   CIV Bi Anthony Tra 14 FW   CIV Alain Anicet Oura 15 DF   CIV Souleymane Coulibaly 16 GK   CIV Ruben Levy Yelo 17 FW   CIV Amede Tidiane Diomande 19 MF   CIV Essis Fulgence Aka

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF   CIV Pacôme Zouzoua 21 GK   CIV Charles Folly 22 MF   CIV Gnoleba Sery 23 FW   CIV N'Guessan Serge Pokou 24 DF   CIV Romeo Kouame 25 MF   CIV Kouamé Aubin Kramo 26 DF   CIV Franck Carlos Zouzou 27 FW   CIV Martial Thierry Kassi 30 DF   CIV Salif Coulibaly 31 DF   CIV Bazoumana Toure 32 DF   CIV Bi Kader Yameogo 33 MF   CIV Abdoul Fatahou Ouattara 34 MF   CIV Tidiane Malick Siaka 35 MF   CIV Malick Yalcouye 36 FW   CIV Moise Elohim Kabore 37 DF   CIV Bi Vroh Evra Dje 38 MF   CIV Awaka Franck Djoro

Technical staff

Julien Chevalier	Manager
Felix Kouadjo	Assistant Coach
Fabrice Jocelyn N'Guessan	Assistant Coach
Alama Bada Soumahoro	Assistant Coach
Akassou Koutouan	Recuitment Cell
Dr. Yves Kouamé	Senior Physician
Randriatsiderana Zaka	Physiotherapist
Christian Boua Gbizie	Physiotherapist
Patrick Martial Adou	Physiotherapist
Kore Stone Logbo	Caregiver
Patrice Volibi	Masseur
Samake Siaka	General Steward

Club life

The club's colours are yellow and black; the badge displays a Mimosa. Together with their biggest rival Africa Sports National, they contest the most important ivorian football derby. These two are also the only clubs allowed to play their home games in Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

ASEC has, after own declarations,^[9] more than 8,000,000 fans in Ivory Coast and 15,000,000 in the whole region. The fans are called the Actionnaires. They are organised in the CNACO (Comité National d`Action et de Coordination, = National Committee for Action and Coordination), which has 40,000 members and consists out of 350 commissions.

Records

ASEC holds the world record for unbeaten league games, racking up 108 league and domestic cup games without loss between 1989 and 1994 before they were eventually beaten by SO Armee; four more than the unbeaten run of Steaua București in the late 1980s.^[10]

Honours

Domestic

• Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division: 27

1963, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2021.

• Côte d'Ivoire Cup: 20

1962, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1983, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018.

• Félix Houphouët-Boigny Cup: 16

1975, 1980, 1983, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017.

International

• CAF Champions League: 1

1998

• CAF Super Cup: 1

1999

• West African Club Championship (UFOA Cup): 1

1990

• Peace Cup: 1

2001^[11]

Performance in CAF competitions

• CAF Champions League: 15 appearances

1998 – Winners 1999 – Group stage/Semi-finals 2001 – Group stage (Top 8) 2002 – Semi-finals 2003 – Group stage (Top 8)

2004 – First round 2005 – Group stage (Top 8) 2006 – Semi-finals 2007 – Group stage (Top 8) 2008 – Group stage (Top 8)

2009 – Second round 2010 – First round 2011 – Second round 2018 – First round 2018-2019 – Group stage (Top 16)

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: 12 appearances

1964 – Preliminary round 1971 – Semi-finals 1973 – Second round 1974 – Quarter-finals

1975 – Quarter-finals 1976 – Semi-finals 1981 – Quarter-finals 1991 – Quarter-finals

1992 – Semi-finals 1993 – Semi-finals 1995 – Finalist 1996 – Second round

• CAF Confederation Cup: 8 appearances

2009 – Second round of 16 2011 – Group stage (Top 8) 2012 – Second round 2013 – Second round

2014 – Group stage (Top 8) 2015 – Second round of 16 2017 – Second round of 16 2018 – Group stage (Top 16)

• CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 4 appearances

1983 – Semi-finals

1984 – Quarter-finals

1987 – Second round

2000 – First round

Former managers

Tronnou Seho (1947–50)   Domingo Koffi (1950–53)   Guy Fabre (1954–59)   Bakary Touré (1960–62)   Koffi Faustin (1962–65)   Ignace Wognin (1966–69)   André Sokoury (1969–70)   Gérard Gabo (1970–71)   Orlando (1971–72)   Jean-Baptiste Anzian (1972–75)   Yobouët Konan (1975–76)

Ignace Wognin (1976–78)   Bernard Vinc (1978–79)   Guy Fabre (1979–80)   Assane (1981–84)   Gérard Gabo (1984–86)   Drissa "Saboteur" Traoré (1986–87)   Phillipe Garot (1987–89)   Philippe Troussier (1990–92)   Eustache Manglé (1992–93)   Charles Roessli (1993–94)   Mamadou Zaré (1994–95)

Yobouët Konan (1995–96)   Oscar Fulloné (1996–98)   Jean-Marc Guillou (1998–99)   Michel Decastel (1999–01)   Drissa "Saboteur" Traoré (2001–02)   Basile Aka Kouamé (2002–03)   Patrick Liewig (2003–09)   Maxime Gouaméné (2009–10)   Sébastien Desabre (2010–12)

Former presidents

Joseph Kouamelan (1948–50)   Tronnou Seho (1950–51)   Lucien Dogbo (1951–53)   François Logon (1953–54)   Louis Boah (1954–56)   François Ouégnin (1958–60)   Blé Kouadio M'Bahia (1960–64)   Kata François Kamano (1964–68)   Mamadou Kouyaté (1968–70)

Lanzéni Coulibaly (1970–75)   Emile Dervain (1975–77)   Bogui Bégnana (1977–79)   Mamadou Touré (1979–80)   Victor Ekra (1980–81)   Claude Andoh (1981–83)   Mamadou Touré (1983–87)   Kangah Michel Ahoua (1987–89)   Roger Ouégnin (1989–)

References

1. "#438 – ASEC Mimosas : les Mimos" (in French). Footnickname. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
2. "Asec Mimosas (Club sportif) – Abidjan.net Qui est qui ?". Abidjan.net. 21 September 1960.
3. "L'Express de Madagascar : Actualités en direct, politiques, économies, sports, cultures, madagascar, afrique, monde". Lexpressmada.com.
4. "The Times & The Sunday Times". The Times. London. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
5. Ornstein, David (15 February 2008). "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Charlton Athletic | Charlton focus on Ivorian future". BBC News.
6. . De.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008.
7. "Stage de préparation au Ghana". Retrieved 20 December 2010.^{[dead link]}
8. "ASEC Mimosas - Equipe première". Asec.ci (in French).
9. [1] 29 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
10. Copnall, James (24 October 2004). "BBC SPORT | Football | African | Asec's amazing run". BBC News.
11. The report about ASEC Abidjan win in 2001 tournament that was held in Rome is here: https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/shalom-roma.html

External links

• (in French) Official website
• The Mimosifcom academy way – These Football Times (2015)