A visit from Ivory Coast and the start of a special partnership

1. FSV Mainz 05 have had a special visit from Africa. During the last few days, a total of 20 young players from Football Club Mayence05 de Jacqueville in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire trained under the watchful eye of Aristide Bancé on the artificial pitches at WOLFGANG FRANK CAMPUS. The visit of African youth players between the ages of 14 and 17 marks the official start of the partnership between Mainz 05 and the football academy for children and young people formed approximately 40 kilometres west of Abidjan in Jacqueville by former FSV promotion hero Bancé.

“I’ve never lost touch with Mainz,” Bancé said. “When I come back here, I feel like I’m coming home.” The former Mainz attacker started the football academy project following his career in order to give something back to his community. “The children would possibly live on the street if it weren’t for the academy. It’s all about young people who are talented on the one hand, but also need help off the field.” Christian Heidel and Mainz 05 sprung to mind straight away as a potential partner. “We presented the project to Christian Heidel and he was immediately prepared to help. However, he wanted to see things himself. We never expected him to come to visit us in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.”

The 05ers’ head of sport Christian Heidel and sporting director Martin Schmidt paid a visit to Football Club Mayence05 de Jacqueville at the start of the year. “We took a look at the local conditions ourselves. The boys train on a clay pitch that is riddled with holes and ditches. There’s hardly any grass. There’s a tree in the middle of the pitch and two rusty goals at both ends. Some of them were even playing barefoot, since training clothes and football boots are a luxury in a poor country like Côte d’Ivoire,” said Heidel. The passion for football was in no way lessened by the harsh conditions, however. “Both the players and Aristide Bancé are fully committed to the cause. The academy makes an important contribution to the social and sporting development of young talent in Jacqueville and we want to support it accordingly through this partnership,” continued Heidel. 

The co-operation with Football Club Mayence05 de Jacqueville will involve supplying the club with training kit, football boots and training equipment in the future. Mainz will also support the team’s effort to construct better training facilities and train local coaches. The children and teenagers in the club’s academy will have the chance to go to a local school and will also be accommodated there. A collaboration with a local school will also provide them with more opportunities to get vocational training. It’s clear to see that the partnership between Mainz 05 and Football Club Mayence05 de Jacqueville has been conceived as not only a sporting, but also a social project.

A group of representatives from Football Club Mayence05 de Jacqueville were at the MEWA ARENA for the 05ers’ game against Freiburg on Sunday. The delegation from Côte d’Ivoire trained at the Bruchweg until Tuesday and played games against Mainz’s youth teams.