The Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, literally Mimosas Commerce Employees' Sporting Association, is an Ivorian football club based in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

. 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 The 1998 CAF Champions League was the 34th awarding of Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 2nd edition under the current CAF Champions League format. ASEC Mimosas of ...

. In addition, ASEC's Académie MimoSifcom has produced a number of famous players predominantly based in top foreign leagues, including

Bonaventure Kalou Bonaventure Kalou (born 12 January 1978) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He serves as elected mayor of Vavoua. Club career Born in Oumé, Kalou started playing for ASEC Mimosas in his home cou ...

Didier Zokora Déguy Alain Didier Zokora (born 14 December 1980) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He represented the Ivory Coast national team for 14 years, beginning in 2000, and is currently the nation's mos ...

Emmanuel Eboué Emmanuel Eboué (born 4 June 1983) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a right back. Formed at ASEC Mimosas, he moved to Europe to play for Belgium's Beveren in 2002. He spent most of his career, from 2005 to 2011, with A ...

Bakari Koné Bakari Koné (born 17 September 1981) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a winger. Club career Early career Koné was born in Abidjan. Like many other Ivorian stars, he began his career at the famed youth academy at A ...

Gervinho Gervais Yao Kouassi (born 27 May 1987), known as Gervinho, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Aris and the Ivory Coast national team. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumod ...

Salomon Kalou Salomon Armand Magloire Kalou (born 5 August 1985) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward and winger for Djiboutian club Arta/Solar7. He previously played for Feyenoord from 2003 to 2006 and Chelsea from 2006 to 2012. ...

Romaric Saint Romaric (died 653) was a Frankish nobleman who lived in Austrasia from the late 6th century until the middle of the 7th century. He and Amatus of Grenoble founded Remiremont Abbey. Biography He was a former Count Palatine in the court of ...

, Boubacar Barry, Didier Ya Konan,

Kolo Touré Kolo Abib Touré (born 19 March 1981) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Championship side Wigan Athletic. He played as a defender for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and the Ivory Co ...

Yaya Touré Gnégnéri Yaya Touré (born 13 May 1983) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is an academy coach for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Touré aspired to be a striker during his you ...

and

Odilon Kossounou Kouakou Odilon Dorgeless Kossounou (; born 4 January 2001) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Ivory Coast national team. Club career Early career Kossounou started his c ...

, all of whom have played internationally.

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. In the following years, ASEC competed in the Championship of Abidjan together with their eternal rival

Africa Sports Africa Sports d'Abidjan is an Ivorian multi-sports club founded in 1947 and based in Abidjan. The club fields teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball and association football, of these the football team is the most promine ...

, with their first professional coach being Frenchman

Guy Fabre Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an uninco ...

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). 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 Laurent N'Dri Pokou (10 August 1947 – 13 November 2016) was an Ivorian footballer who played as a striker. He notably played for French club Stade Rennais F.C. International career Pokou was a member of the Ivorian national team, who was tw ...

and Eustache Manglé. In the next years, it was

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 Philippe Omar TroussierOctober's ten - Religious conversions

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 The 1992 African Cup of Nations was the 18th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Senegal. The field expanded to twelve teams, split into four groups of three; the top two teams in each ...

, including key members of the side such as Ben Badi,

Donald-Olivier Sié Donald-Olivier Sié (born 3 April 1970) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He participated at the 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000 Africa Cup of Nations. He played for Toulouse FC in Ligue 1. He later played ...

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 Jean-Marc Guillou (born 20 December 1945) is a French football coach and former player, who played at the 1978 World Cup. Club career Guillou was born in Bouaye, Loire-Atlantique. He played for Angers SCO, OGC Nice, Neuchâtel Xamax, FC Mulho ...

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 (; ar, الترجي الرياضي التونسي, Attarajī ar-Riyāḍi Attūnisī, link=yes), also known as ''ES Tunis'' and , is a Tunisian sports club based in Bab Souika neighbourhood of Tunis, Tunisia. The club was founded in 1919, thu ...

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. Amongst others, Boubacar 'Copa' Barry,

Gilles Yapi Yapo Gilles Donald Yapi Yapo (born 30 January 1982) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Abidjan, Yapi Yapo started his career at ASEC Mimosas and then moved to Europe with Beveren. He joined ...

Siaka Tiéné Siaka Tiéné (born 22 February 1982) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who primarily played as a left-back. Having begun at ASEC Mimosas in his native Ivory Coast and Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, he went on to spend most of his ...

Abdoulaye Djire Abdoulaye is a West African masculine given name and surname. It is equivalent to the Arabic names Abdallah or Abdullah ( ar, عبد الله ''ʿAbdu-llahi''; ''servant of God''), given name of Muhammad's father. People with this name include: Gi ...

, Venance Zézé, and

Aruna Dindane Aruna Dindane (born 26 November 1980) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He has 62 caps and 17 goals for the Ivory Coast since his debut in 2000, and has played at four Africa Cup of Nations and two FIFA Wor ...

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

Arthur Boka Etienne Arthur Boka (born 2 April 1983) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a left back for the Ivory Coast national team. At club level, he plays for Atlético de Marbella in the seventh-tier Primera Andaluza. He was ...

and

Copa Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

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 Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

Satellite clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with ASEC: *

* Feyenoord Fetteh

Académie MimoSifcom

ASECs youth academy has been described as the crown jewel of African football. The academy started by Roger Ouégnin and

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

Technical staff

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, 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.

Honours

Domestic

Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division The Ivory Coast MTN Ligue 1 is the top division of the Ivorian Football Federation. It was created in 1960. 2021−22 Ligue 1 clubs * AF Amadou Diallo * AS Indenié Abengourou * ASEC Mimosas * Bouaké FC * CO Korhogo * ES Bafing * FC San Pedro * ...

: 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) The West African Club Championship (UFOA Cup), also known as the General Eyadéma Cup, was a West African Club tournament from 1977 to 1999. It was open to league runners-up in the West Africa (or ''Zone 3'') region of the CAF. While the first mat ...

: 1 ::1990 *

Peace Cup The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...

: 1 ::2001The report about ASEC Abidjan win in 2001 tournament that was held in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

is here: http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/shalom-roma.html

Performance in CAF competitions

* CAF Champions League: 15 appearances ::

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

– Winners ::

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

– 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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

– Group stage (Top 8) :: 2009 – Second round :: 2010 – First round :: 2011 – Second round ::

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

– First round :: 2018-2019 – Group stage (Top 16) * African Cup of Champions Clubs: 12 appearances ::

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

– Preliminary round :: 1971 – Semi-finals ::

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

– Second round :: 1974 – Quarter-finals ::

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

– Quarter-finals ::

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

– Semi-finals ::

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

– Quarter-finals ::

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

– Quarter-finals :: 1992 – Semi-finals ::

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

– Semi-finals ::

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

– ''Finalist'' :: 1996 – Second round * CAF Confederation Cup: 8 appearances :: 2009 – Second round of 16 :: 2011 – Group stage (Top 8) ::

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

– Second round ::

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

– Second round ::

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

– Group stage (Top 8) :: 2015 – Second round of 16 ::

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

– Second round of 16 ::

– Group stage (Top 16) * CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 4 appearances ::1983 – Semi-finals ::1984 – Quarter-finals ::1987 – Second round ::2000 – First round

Former managers

Former presidents

References

External links

Official website

The Mimosifcom academy way
– ''These Football Times'' (2015) {{CAF Super Cup winners Association football clubs established in 1948 Football clubs in Ivory Coast Football clubs in Abidjan 1948 establishments in Ivory Coast Sports clubs in Ivory Coast CAF Champions League winning clubs CAF Super Cup winning clubs