RB Leipzig and Mali midfielder Amadou Haidara has expanded his foundation’s off-season training beyond the capital Bamako as he looks for talent for his academy currently being built in the capital.
Haidara was born and raised in Bamako, but his parents come from the village of Kéla, two hours away. With his foundation, founded in 2021, Haidara was able to contribute to the opening of a medical center there.
He hopes to have a similar impact on Malians inside and outside Bamako through football, telling ESPN: “My generation has inspired many children from Mali to become professional footballers.”
“But there are many academies in Bamako and if you don’t come from the capital, it’s much more difficult for a small, talented footballer to prove himself.
“The main motivation for starting my foundation was to help young children in Mali to prove themselves – to get a chance to play football, because not everyone has the chance to play in a bigger academy like me. There are hundreds of thousands of children who want to compete.”
“I founded the foundation in 2021. Before 2021 I just did it in an unstructured way, but since 2021 I have been organizing a big event every summer with my own money.
“I am also currently setting up my own academy in Bamako. It is currently under construction and will be completed this year. The best players from this edition will then move to my academy, which will open in the autumn (probably between October and December this year).”
This year’s camp was the third edition as COVID-19 scuppered plans for an event. The first two camps were in Bamako, but this year it was held in Kayes. In the future, Haidara aims to reach new areas each year to ensure no child is left behind.
Both boys and girls can participate in its camps, but the academy’s initial focus will be on building boys’ teams.
For Haidara, the road to the top was anything but easy, but he at least had the resources he needed to showcase his talent.
Mali is one of nine countries with a JMG Academy, founded by former French international Jean-Marc Guillou. Haidara shone there and made it onto the radar of the U17 national team, for whom he played at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup, winning the silver medal with Mali.
Although he didn’t win the tournament, Haidara was discovered by Red Bull Salzburg. The following year he signed with the then Austrian champions. In his first season he was loaned to second division club Liefering.
However, he also played for Salzburg in the UEFA Youth League and made seven first-team appearances for the renowned club in all competitions.
In his second season, Haidara became a regular in the first team and halfway through his third season he was signed by Leipzig, the biggest club under Red Bull ownership.
Haidara was a regular in Leipzig’s run to the semi-finals of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League and remains a rock in midfield to this day. However, over the course of his professional career – which he spent entirely under the Red Bull umbrella – rumors of a possible move to the Premier League have repeatedly surfaced.
In the past, Haidara has been linked with a move to Manchester United, and Newcastle United are also said to be keeping tabs on him. Despite previously telling Bild that the Red Devils would be a “dream” move, he told ESPN that he is currently happy in Leipzig.
Although Haidara stresses that he is keeping all options open for the future, the Premier League is not his priority – even as he thinks about his football career bucket list.
Haidara said: “I want to achieve a lot and I fight every day to make progress. Three things come to mind: One would be to play in the World Cup with Mali. The other would be to win the Champions League. A big dream would also be to win the Africa Cup of Nations.”
Mali made it to the quarter-finals this year, but lost in extra time to hosts and eventual defending champions Ivory Coast.
He continued: “There are three competitions on the agenda this season: the Bundesliga, the DFB Cup and of course the Champions League. I want to win titles, that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m happy here. I want to be here and I have a contract in Leipzig (until 2026). This is football and you never know what will happen. You can never say never. But at the moment I’m very happy here. The season will start and we’ll see what happens.”
Off the pitch, Haidara plans to continue travelling around Mali. His local contacts will select hundreds of talents for his training camps and his academy will recruit the best of the best.
Support came from telecommunications operator Orange Mali, which selected the best players from the 2022 camp for the Orange Sponsors Change tournament in Morocco, where the Malian team finished second.
Leipzig will face Rot-Weiss Essen in the first round of the DFB Cup on August 17th before kicking off the Bundesliga against VfL Bochum on August 24th.
The DFB Cup will be broadcast on ESPN’s African channels.
