Ivory Coast: where football is more than a game

At the of heart Ivory Coast football is one club that takes boys from poverty and makes them men.

ASEC Mimosas a youth academy situated in the nations former capital of Abidjan, brings in players with talent and attempts to teach them more than how to play football, but also the opportunity to learn to read and write.

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Harding the academy's director Walter Ammann speak of an enormous pride of how the academy nurtures the children.

"We try to protect them, and to teach them responsibility, to help them to become men. Some of the boys come here and they can't even read or write." He said.

The results speak for themselves the club itself already boasts super stars of the game including Chelsea forward Solomon Kalou, Sevilla Midfielder Didier Zokora, the Toure brothers Kolo and Yaya, and Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue.

However outside the club the true attitude to football is seen in the way they look up to their stars. In the Ivory Coast there may be no greater figure be it political, social, or otherwise than Chelsea star Didier Drogba.

“Drogba brought peace to our country he means everything” one fan told the BBC.

It is little surprise considering the fan was talking from an area renamed Drogba Village in a poor district in Abidjan at a football match watching the Drogba team on Drogba Road.

Drogba famously dropped to his knees after the team qualified for the 2006 World Cup and begged with his team mates for the warring factions involved in the nation's civil to stop fighting. It worked.

With the 'Elephants' expecting to reach at least the second round in their group with Brazil, North Korea and Portugal local sports journalist Ali Bamba told Andrew Harding that the sides time in South Africa is about more than winning.

“It is not only about football, it is also about humanity, it is also to integrate Africa into the world community.”