The Next Generation:

It has wrongly been described as a modern slave trade. Others think it a hang-over from colonialism, but both are wrong. Feyenoord established its academy in Gomoa Fetteh for the right reasons and it runs it that way too. Football is a brutal business that feeds on success. Academies have to deliver the next generation of talented players, but not everyone can be a Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Lionel Messi. What happens to the rest of them?

Karel Brokken runs Feyenoord's Academy at Gomoa Fetteh. He granted us an extensive interview.

"We are not unique," he told us. "I think the way that we are running this academy is the right way. Our main objective is that they go to Feyenoord, but that hasn't happened yet. I think it will take time. Normally it will take over ten years." It has been more than ten years and still the elusive player has not arrived in Rotterdam. How long can their patience last?

"They [Feyenoord] do not force things," said Brokken. "If you come to Africa, and demand that they produce players quickly for the first team, then that will never work. For Feyenoord it is a school as well. They want players, but if he is not coming now, you have to accept it. It isn't something that can be rushed. It is a social project and you have to consider everything – education: football and everything."

But Feyenoord wants players. "If you give so much to a country and I think we are giving a lot to the country, then yes I think that's normal," Brokken said. It has produced Ghanaian internationals. The most recent played in the quarter-final of the World Cup. Dominic Adiyah left Scandinavia for AC Milan. He was denied his first international goal by Luis Suárez' blatant cheating. He was developed by the Gomoa Fetteh Academy. The Black Stars. has blooded other players produced there too, so why haven't they produced a player for Feyenoord?

"Feyenoord can always take them," Brokken said. "There is one under-age still playing here, so he can play competitions, because we can see that he is a talent, but if will reach Feyenoord, that is very difficult to say. The chance is there."

Development:

So what does it take to make it for an African player? "What I have seen is that it takes a long time before the player – an African player – is ready for a top club," said Brokken. "They can all play and they will all reach a team somewhere – well most of them – but it would not be good for them to go earlier, say at 16 because they are physically behind. They cannot do anything in Europe at 15, 16 unless they cheat with their age."

Consequently, African boys tended to be small for their ages and that posed further problems. "When they are in the womb of the mother, they are not getting enough nutrition and in the first years too," said Brokken. "I'm talking now about most of the players. When they come from a socially better-off family of course the children are better-fed, but most of the time we don't see that – maybe, one or two, but most of them are from deprived backgrounds."

Feyenoord's academy offers them a chance – something that many of their predecessors would have benefited from. "Seven or eight years ago there were no academies even in Ghana," said Brokken. "Like you said, what is an academy? You can have three footballs, twenty children and a field and say: 'I have an academy.' There are a lot of places that call themselves academies. I think the Football Federation was busy saying to have an academy, one needs a minimum of fields, assets and a school."