2007 Teams - ASEC Abidjan Team Profile

ASEC (l'Amicale Sportive des Employés de Commerce) Abidjan are perennial contenders for the crown of Africa’s top club and were the winners of the second edition of the MTN CAF Champions League in 1998. They have also qualified to the league phase of the competition a record eight times, a distinction they share with Esperance of Tunisia.

In 1995 they were beaten finalists in the old African Champions Cup and first started competing in the tournament in 1971. ASEC are also the most successful team in the history of Cote d’Ivoire having dominated the domestic championship and last year secured their seventh successive title.

But in recent years the club has become better known as wholesale exporters of players to Europe, notably through their fabled Sol Beni academy.

Many of Cote d’Ivoire’s leading exports to European football, like Kolo Toure and Aruna Dindane, began their formative careers under the tutelage of the club and each year ASEC seem to produce a new and equally capable generation.

Their squad in the 2006 edition reached the semifinals yet the version they bring to the 2007 edition looks totally different, with key players sold off after last year’s campaign was finished.

Coach Patrick Liewig, the latest in a long line of French coaches who have worked in Abidjan, has won two league and cup doubles in a row and is now in this third season with the club.