ASEC Mimosas (short for Association Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas; ) is an Ivorian professional

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

based in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

. The club is also known as ''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 29 times and the

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

. In addition, ASEC's youth academy, known as 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 co ...

, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboué,

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. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumodi, before moving to Belgium in 2004 to play for Beveren. Between 2007 ...

Salomon Kalou Salomon Armand Magloire Kalou (born 5 August 1985) is an Ivorian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward or Midfielder#Winger, winger. He started his career with local club AS ...

, Romaric,

Boubacar Barry Boubacar "Copa" Barry (born 30 December 1979) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having begun his career at ASEC Mimosas, he moved to France in 2001, where he played for Rennes' reserve team. In 2003, he ...

, Didier Ya Konan,

Kolo Touré Kolo Abib Touré (born 19 March 1981) is an Ivorian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player. He most recently managed then-Championship club Wigan Athletic F.C., Wigan Athletic. Beginning his career as a ...

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 currently an assistant coach for the Saudi Arabia national team. Touré aspired to be a striker during h ...

and

Odilon Kossounou Kouakou Odilon Dorgeless Kossounou (; born 4 January 2001), better known as Odilon Kossounou, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays either as a centre-back or right-back for club Atalanta and the Ivory Coast national team. Club car ...

, all of whom have played internationally.

History

ASEC Mimosas was founded on 29 April 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 a multi-sports club based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. History The club was founded in 1947. Sports The club contains teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball, and association football. Of these, th ...

, 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 unin ...

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 association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He notably played for French club Stade Rennais F.C. International career Pokou w ...

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 Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

was elected as club president. In his wish to professionalize the club, he introduced

Philippe Troussier Philippe Omar Troussier,October'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 Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

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 playe ...

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 Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

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 Mulh ...

joined the club staff as director, manager and financier. Together with chairman

, 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 Espérance Sportive de Tunis (), known as ES Tunis or simply EST for short, is a Tunisian professional sports club founded on 15 January 1919 in the Bab Souika neighborhood of Tunis. Its football (soccer), football section has competed in th ...

in the

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

. 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 Slim Chiboub (born 13 January 1959) is a Tunisian people, Tunisian businessman. He is married to Dorsaf Ben Ali, the oldest daughter of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his first wife, Naïma Ben Ali, Naïma Kefi.Stephen J. K ...

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,

, Didier Zokora,

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 Na ...

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,

Venance Zézé Venance Zézé, nicknamed Zézéto, (born 17 June 1981 in Abidjan), is an Ivorian footballer who currently plays for Séwé Sport. International He has been capped by the Ivorian national side. Career Like many successful Ivorian footballers ...

, and Aruna Dindane were part of that squad. When Guillou became manager of Belgian side

K.S.K. Beveren KSK Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian football club from Beveren in East Flanders with founded number 2300 and with yellow and blue as colors. The club became national champion twice in its existence and won the Belgian ...

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, Emmanuel Eboué,

, Romaric and

Copa Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Aircraft, Cirrus Owners and Pilots Asso ...

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 a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

Satellite clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with ASEC: *

West African Football Academy West African Football Academy Sporting Club or WAFA for short, is a Ghanaian professional football club based near Sogakope in the Volta Region. They are competing in the Ghana Premier League. The 2016–17 season was a successful one for WAFA as ...

Académie MimoSifcom

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

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 Africa Sports d'Abidjan is a multi-sports club based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. History The club was founded in 1947. Sports The club contains teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball, and association football. Of these, th ...

, 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 The Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, nicknamed Le Félicia, is a multi-purpose stadium, which can host football, rugby union and athletics, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the former national stadium of the Ivory Coast national football team. It is ...

. ASEC has, after own declarations, more than 8,000,000 fans in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

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 Ligue 1 LONACI is the top division of the Ivorian Football Federation. It was created in 1960. 2024−25 Ligue 1 clubs * AF Amadou Diallo * ASEC Mimosas * Bouaké FC * CO Korhogo * Denguélé * Mouna * FC San Pédro * LYS F ...

: 29 **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, 2022, 2023 *

Côte d'Ivoire Cup Côte Restaurants Group Limited, trading as Côte (formerly Côte Brasserie), stylised as CÔTE is a French-style British restaurant chain founded by Richard Caring, Andy Bassadone, Chris Benians and Nick Fiddler in Wimbledon, London Wimbl ...

: 22 **1957, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1983, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2023 * Félix Houphouët-Boigny Cup: 17 **1975, 1980, 1983, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2023

International

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

: 1 **1998 *

: 1 **1999 * West African Club Championship (UFOA Cup): 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. History and format Since 2003, the Peace Cup is being held every two years, the Su ...

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

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

is here: https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/shalom-roma.html

Performance in CAF competitions

: 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– Winners ::

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

– Group stage/Semi-finals ::

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

– Semi-finals ::

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

– semi finals ::

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

– Semi-finals ::

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

– Second round ::

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

– First round ::

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

– Second round ::

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

– First round :: 2018-2019 – Group stage (Top 16) *

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) a ...

: 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 Patria ...

– Preliminary round ::

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

– 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 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

– Second round ::

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

– 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 2 – 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 18 – Full diplomatic ...

– 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 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

– Quarter-finals ::

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

– Quarter-finals ::

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

– Semi-finals ::

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

– Semi-finals ::

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

– ''Finalist'' ::

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

– Second round *

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

: 9 appearances ::

– Second round of 16 ::

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

– Second round ::

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

– Second round ::

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

– Group stage (Top 8) ::

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

– Second round of 16 ::

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

– Second round of 16 ::

– Group stage (Top 16) :: 2021-2022 – Group stage (Top 16) :: 2022-2023 – Semi-finals *

CAF Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and was ...

: 4 appearances ::1983 – Semi-finals ::1984 – Quarter-finals ::1987 – Second round ::2000 – First round

Former managers

Former presidents

References

External links

*
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 and teams in Ivory Coast CAF Champions League–winning clubs CAF Super Cup winning clubs