How A Poor Boy Helped Ivory Coast Defeat Nigeria At AFCON( The Emotional Story Of Adingra)

I was playing in the street in Ivory Coast. A crook took 300 euros from me to take me to a training center in Benin. There, I washed plates in restaurants in exchange for some money and meals.

As a kid, I played in the street in my neighborhood. From a very young age, football was my passion. I saw the journey of big brothers like Didier Drogba and I wanted to imitate them.

Seeing me playing in the street, an acquaintance said to me: ‘Simon, it would be better if you were supervised in a training center.’

I then joined a center in Abidjan where I trained twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, while continuing my school career.

Then one day, a coach came to see my parents saying that he knew a good academy in Benin that needed young talents like me.

My father, who has since passed away, always wanted me to become a footballer and agreed for me to leave.

We had to pay a sum of around 300 euros to this guy, and I left for Benin with nine other young Ivorians.

“Except this guy was a crook. He made it all up and left with our money. There was no academy or accommodation for us there.

All ten of us were in Benin, at the age of 12, left to our own devices without anyone’s help. We didn’t even have money to feed ourselves…

There were then two possibilities: either return to Ivory Coast, or wait and see if an opportunity came along We decided to all stay together and do odd jobs to start earning money, such as washing plates in restaurants in exchange for some money and meals.

One day, we were walking down the street and a guy who studied in Ivory Coast recognized our Ivorian accent. He was surprised to find around ten young Ivorians in Benin.

We explained the situation to him, and he was scandalized by the conditions in which we lived. He did everything to find us another house and had the idea of creating a small football academy with the nine young people and me.

Over time, other players joined the center and it became a real academy in Benin. One day he saw on the Internet that there was a tournament in Accra, Ghana, and we went to play there.

I am still in contact with him; he actually came to see me play at Union-Zulte Waregem at the beginning of February.”

“During the tournament in Ghana, recruiters from the ‘Right To Dream’ Academy were charmed by my performances and offered me a two-week test at their fairly renowned training center.

There, everything was very professional with a great organization and qualified coaches, even if it was not easy for me at the beginning, because I did not speak English.

In the morning, we had a moment of prayer all together before going to the “school. In the afternoon we had training.

I stayed there for two years and played with Kamaldeen Sulemana, who currently plays for Southampton, and Mohamed Kudus from Ajax (at West Ham Currently).”