In the early 1990s, Jean-Marc Guillou, a former French international football player, had the idea of creating an academy in Africa to train high-level professional players. This is how the Mimosifcom Academy (also called Sol Béni) was born in 1994.
Several years later, the project became a success. Many former players from Mimosifcom Academy have been recruited by major European clubs. The brothers Touré, Kolo and Yaya, Emmanuel Eboué, Didier Zokora, N’Dri Koffi Romaric or Gervinho are the most significant examples.
Encouraged by this success, Jean-Marc Guillou applied this concept in other countries, Mali, Algeria, Madagascar, Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt, Ghana ...
The JMG Football model is known for its hyper-selection based above all on the pure talent of children and not just their physical attributes. Among the specificities of JMG Football’s work methods are: the small number of players and make-up of a technical staff such that there is 1 coach for every 6 or 7 players, alternating training and teaching periods each day, time given for recovery and adaptation of programs according to each child’s needs.
Vincent Dufour, Managing Director of JMG Football, comments on the company's activities and its relations with football governing bodies and other football stakeholders.
Vincent Dufour, you are the Managing Director of JMG Football, in charge of the famous Jean-Marc Guillou Academies. Can you tell us about your activity and the reasons behind such a project in Africa initially? What is the philosophy of founder Jean-Marc Guillou and of the company?
Our main activity is the recruitment, training and promotion of young talented players, who we give full support to from the moment they are selected.
The selection of players is a fundamental element of success and we therefore take particular care. Then, when players are definitively recruited, we undertake with the parents to take charge of them completely on the basis of a training contract (education, care, accommodation, travel, food, etc.) and to have the player sign a professional contract until at least the age of 19 years. A player is only expelled from an academy in the event of serious behavioural issues, but never for sporting reasons...
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