As we have settled into the new year, talk, as it often does, turns to the potential stars of the future. Over in Denmark, at FC Nordsjaelland, it would seem they have a more progressive view than most towards the process. The club, owned by the Right To Dream Academy, was founded back in 1999 by chairman Tom Vernon, formerly Manchester United's chief African scout. Originally independent of any professional club, it entered into partnership with the Tigrene (Tigers) in 2015- with the former Farum Park being renamed after Right To Dream a year later as part of the deal.
A look at the team sheet would suggest the African influence is still strong, a fair few graduates via Ghana going on to carve out careers in the Superliga under head coach Jens Fønsskov Olsen. Who replaced the current Norwich boss, Johannes Hoff Thorup, after he moved on to Carrow Road after just one season in charge, having been promoted from assistant after the departure of Flemming Pedersen. In the current squad Ivorian midfielder Mario Dorgeles and forward Levy Nene of Mali, are joined by fellow striker Araphat Mohammed and his fellow Ghanaians- midfielder Diallo Sanoussi and two more forwards in Baba Seidu and Caleb Yirenkyi.
The late Jason Stockwood, then chairman of Grimsby Town and writing for the Guardian, was won over, having set out to explore the broader role football can play in society-
“A chance introduction to Tom Vernon, the visionary founder of Right to Dream, brought me and four friends to Ghana last year. More than 20 years earlier a 19-year-old Tom had travelled to Ghana to look for adventure and work as the assistant coach at Hearts of Oak in Ghana’s Premier League.
He lived on the fringes of the Nima district of Accra, where he befriended a young footballer with big dreams but no team to play for. Tom and his equally visionary and resilient wife, Helen, were inspired by this young man to start a local team. When they saw that many of the children faced challenges accessing all their needs as student athletes, they opened their home to 16 young men and started to juggle their professional duties with their new, makeshift academy and school.
With Right to Dream, children get the opportunity to fulfil their educational and sporting potential, regardless of their starting position in life. I chatted with Tom about the challenges of scaling such social mobility across multicultural domains and he is incredibly thoughtful and open to the challenges of their international model.
The foundations are strong. I have never been in an educational institution so full of soul, love and joy. In the outdoor, communal dining room we shared lunch with children, mainly 11-year-olds from Ghana and Ivory Coast, who asked about ourselves and our homes. They had just finished a class on ethics and character before going on to the pitch and demonstrating how the practice and striving for excellence is standard there. Importantly, the boys and girls train together and are indistinguishable in their skills and capabilities.”
And having acquired Nordsjaelland, the model was then exported from Ghana to Denmark, the link also produced an early success in the form of Mohamed Kudus, who made the move to Denmark in January 2018, via Right to Dream. He managed fourteen goals in fifty-one games before a switch to Ajax in July of 2020, after a nine million Euro fee had been agreed.
His former manager Pedersen waxed lyrical to Sky Sports News following another move from Ajax to West Ham-
“Expect a player who wants to please the crowd, wants to express himself . He is such a technically skilful player. He has these amazing individual skills. And then, he has this extreme physical power."
For his part, Kudus was grateful to the Tigrene for their role in his development.
“Yeah, I think for me, a player from Africa, I think it was a good step for me because I didn’t want to take big steps because I think I needed time to learn a lot of stuff because it’s a whole different culture in Europe, compared to Africa, so it was a good step and learning experience for me. I was there for two seasons, and then boom, to Ajax!”
Brighton have also acquired Ibrahim Osman, whose six goals from thirty-five games at Right To Dream Park, in his sole Superliga season, was enough to convince the Seagulls to part with £16 million before loaning him to Feyenoord in August of this year, two goals in thirteen games his record at De Kuip thus far.
All underpinned by the vision of Tom Vernon, the Nordsjaelland team is now the youngest in Europe with an average league starting line-up age of 22 years and six months, not that he wants them to be seen as inexperienced!
"We are the youngest team in Europe, but we don't want to be the youngest team and be relegated . We have made the Europa League qualifiers in the four years we have been here and we are looking to build on that.
The way we have developed players at Right to Dream we think is a globally relevant model. In many ways we think the European academy system has lost its moral compass, the way kids are picked very young and kicked out after a couple of years. Are we really investing in their education?
We believe in doing it differently. We don't deselect players and we invest heavily in their education and their character development to create people who are fit to go out into the world, whether that's in our first team or not.
None of our Ghanaian players come to Europe before our Danish players visit Africa. So all our Under 14s Danish players go to Ghana and spend some time living in the academy like the Right to Dream boys do.
There's a lot of knowledge and learning that goes on both ways."
With the current domestic season having kicked off on 19th July last year and nearing the end of a two and a half months long winter break, they currently sit in seventh place, only goal difference separating them and Silkeborg in sixth. Can they repeat their maiden title win of 2011/12 at some stage?