”This is magnificent,” Côte d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosas general manager Benoît YOU enthuses while walking around at Chiefs Village, Amakhosi’s headquarters.

The general manager is on a visit to South Africa. The Ivorian club kicked Kaizer Chiefs out of the CAF Confederation Cup in May, after booking two wins (2-1 away and 1-0 at home). However, YOU admires the way the Amakhosi are run.

“A club has a leader with a vision,” he continues. “ASEC Mimosas’ chairman is Roger Ouégnin, who has been running the club for 25 years. He could have entered politics or done something else, but his heart is at a club. He has a vision.”

“In Africa there are a lot of teams. But there are not a lot of clubs. A club is more than a team. A club has numerous supporters, a fixed training centre with the club’s headquarters based there as well, a media centre, has won a lot of trophies, has a history and has a reserve team as well as an academy to groom the club’s players of the future.”

“Kaizer Motaung and Ouégnin are friends with respect for each other. They both have a vision. Chiefs is a real Club. It’s amazing what I see here. It’s something to be proud about.”

Then, the Asec Mimosas general manager adds with a twinkle in the eyes: “Hopefully we will meet one day in an African Champions League final. Two great African clubs fighting it out, who will be crowned African champions?”

One of the officials, YOU met was Chiefs Marketing Director Jessica Motaung, who says: “It was wonderful to interact again with Benoît. ASEC is a top club in Africa. Our relationship goes back to the first Vodacom Challenge in 2009, when we beat the Ivoirians 2-1. Benoît and I also met at the CAF Conference, called African Clubs and Professionalism, in Cape Town early this year.”

“It was great for him to see how the Village is growing with soon also having our youth development structures here. It’s always important to exchange information, we learn from each other.”