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Young African Promises: The Story Still Being Written

24 Sept 2026

10 min Read

By Tom Robinson

Ahead of the next edition of the Future Talent Tournament — available exclusively on Wyscout — we tell the story of Young African Promises through the lens of three recent graduates.

Jean Emmanuel N'Goran had been back in Abidjan a few weeks when he heard that someone was looking for him.

He had just returned from Ghana, where he had played for the Ivory Coast under-17s at the UFOA tournament. His home was in Yopougon, the sprawling commune in the west of Abidjan, affectionately known as ‘Yop City’ due to its youthful spirit, lively open-air maquis, and vibrant nightlife.

He had signed for local second-division club, EFYM, but word reached him that an academy in another country had his name.

"They contacted me, and I told my father about the opportunity," he recounts. "We decided that I should go and attend the trial. By the grace of God, I passed the trial successfully. That is how I joined Young African Promises."

He was seventeen and had already played for his country at youth level. Nobody found him in the way these stories are often romantically told: a chance encounter on dusty, informal pitches, the one-in-a-million lightning strike. He was known, he was contracted, and the next link in the chain reached out to offer him a new opportunity. Everything after that, the move to Ghana, the years in Accra, the transfer to Seville, ran off that phone call.

That distinction sits close to the heart of what Young African Promises does, and it points to why they have been successful at providing a real and sustainable platform for West African prospects to develop their potential and go on to play abroad.

Different roads, one methodology

Young African Promises (YAP) was set up in 2021 by a group of Spanish coaches and scouts, and now draws players from eight countries into two centres, one in Accra in Ghana and one in Ziguinchor in Senegal. Its aim is deliberate: take players who are already good and give them the structure to turn that into a professional career.

YAP’s Sporting Director Joaquín Marcos del Campo, who has lived and worked in West Africa for nine years and scouted the region for Spanish side Alavés before that, describes the problem the academy exists to solve.

"The main challenge is not finding talent," he explains, "but identifying it at an early age, providing the right training and creating a clear and responsible pathway towards professional football. There are many players capable of reaching the highest level, but they need structure, patience and the right opportunities."

Identifying rather than finding. It is a subtle difference that highlights something specific about the realities of youth development in Africa.

Much like N'Goran, Pape Aliya N'dao was already spoken for. The Senegalese teen had been through three academies before YAP saw him, starting at the Papa Bouba Diop academy in Rufisque, then two years at Racing Club de Dakar, then Renaissance de Dakar. It was there, he says, "that the Young African Promises scouts saw me, during a tournament organised by Spanish agents."

The network doing the identifying is smaller than you might expect. Five scouts across Ghana, two in Senegal, one in Guinea-Bissau, one in the Gambia. Sergio Álvarez Burón, the academy's resident Spanish coach, describes the raw material as inexhaustible.

"You can see wherever you go, people playing football in the streets," he says. "But you have to work with that talent, invest in it, and be patient."

Rockson Yeboah came from inside the Ghanaian game, on the books of Bec-Tero and then Techiman United before he reached Accra. Three players, from three different countries, each of whom had to leave home to get there. One tried and tested method.

What they brought, and what had to be taught

Ask the two coaches about first impressions and a common theme emerges. Each player turned up with an innate talent that nobody teaches, and each one left having been shaped by YAP’s core values and training framework.

With N’Goran, Sergio noticed his ability to play the ball out from the back: "The way he was striking the ball, his vision of the game, and the ability for reaching the free player was outstanding. His long diagonal balls were top for his age."

“He had the profile of a very modern centre-back,” chimes in Joaquín. “Being left-footed made him interesting, but what really stood out was his composure on the ball, ability to play forward, and confidence to carry the ball. He was also physically strong, quick, and anticipated situations excellently.”

With N’dao it was his raw electricity. "When he arrived he was a very shy, thin boy but with an unstoppable power," Sergio says. “His explosiveness, one-on-one ability, and natural instinct for finding dangerous spaces were clear from the beginning,” adds Joaquín.

With Yeboah, it was his presence. "When Rockson played for the first time, his physicality and authority stood out,” says Joaquín. “He was tall, powerful and very strong in aerial duels, but he also possessed great speed and excellent mobility for a player of his size. What impressed me most was his competitiveness, concentration and desire to defend.”

He was absolutely amazing. He won all the challenges. He is a general at the back. For us he is a future Premier League player. Sergio Álvarez Burón - Young African Promises

Each player’s natural gifts truly shone with the polish and refinement YAP’s coaches brought to the table. N’Goran learned when to step out of the defensive line and when to hold it, becoming more disciplined and more consistent. Yeboah learned to organise the players around him, to defend the space behind his back line, and to carry the ball out under pressure rather than simply clear it. N’dao spent three years honing the gift he already had, adding tactical understanding and off-the-ball movements.

"We worked on the coordination, the technique, the finishing," Sergio says, "and the most important thing for him: decision-making."

Different players with distinct gifts, taught the same discipline, mentality, and tactical understanding.

The apparatus behind that is deliberate and, by the academy's own description, imported. A European methodology adapted to the African context: video sessions, position-specific individual work, coach education overseen by methodological director Joan Marmol. Joaquín describes the analysis loop matter-of-factly.

"We record matches, analyse performances and use Hudl and Wyscout platforms to present players to clubs with reliable video footage and performance data."

YAP’s use of video and data also serves as an educational tool for their players, giving prospects a chance to review their performances and improve areas of their game. It also allows coaching staff to more easily implement a consistent development model, adapted to each stage of a player’s growth, coordinated across both sites.

Future Talent Tournament: the showcase event

Twice a year, YAP stages the Future Talent Tournament, a competition for players aged between fourteen and eighteen that brings together academies from across West Africa. Recent editions have drawn scouts from Europe and South America. The next edition runs in late October.

For those unable to travel, all games are included exclusively as part of the Wyscout Youth Pack. This gives YAP youngsters true global visibility, significantly bolstering their chances of being identified and recruited by clubs from abroad.

For the players, the Future Talent Tournament represents both a learning experience and a shop window:

"I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and learn as much as possible because some of the best young players from different countries came together at the tournament," N’Goran says. "It was a great experience to compete against high-level players and to learn from them."

"It was good, because there were a lot of scouts present at that tournament," N’dao recounts, "and we had the opportunity to reach the top level thanks to the many clubs that were there or viewing it online."

There is a neat circularity in his case. YAP's scouts found him at somebody else's tournament, and European clubs found him at YAP's. His career is a demonstration of the visibility and opportunity these tournaments bring.

Sergio is blunt about the sequencing. Develop the players first, he says, then create the occasion.

"We work with them in training to best develop their skills, and later we organize tournaments where scouts from Europe, Brazil, and USA can spot them and offer them a contract or a trial."

The tournament does not manufacture the talent. It’s simply evidence of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

Proof in the pathways

One of the most impressive aspects of YAP is the sheer number and variety of success stories it produces. Our three featured players embody this perfectly.

N’Goran joined Real Betis’s youth setup in January 2025 and within a year had won the Copa del Rey Juvenil, featured in the UEFA Youth League, and scored his first goal for the reserve side. In March 2026 the club extended his contract to 2030, by which point Chelsea and Manchester United had reportedly both sent scouts to watch him.

N’dao went to Brussels in August 2025 and spent the season with Anderlecht Futures in Belgium's second tier, scoring four times across roughly 1,500 minutes of game time.

"I felt a real satisfaction at joining my first club in Europe, but at the same time I was aware that I'd have a lot of challenges to overcome," he describes. "At the start it wasn't easy at all because of the adaptation, but now I feel comfortable and I'm finding my feet again."

Yeboah has taken a less direct path, first moving to Greece on loan with AEK Athens, before then moving permanently to Sweden with IFK Göteborg in August 2024. After two seasons in the Allsvenskan, Spanish La Liga side Osasuna paid €3m for him and signed him until 2031, with a release clause of €30m.

"Our objective is not simply to secure a transfer," says Joaquín. "We also try to find the right club and the right development pathway for each individual player." This player-centric approach is highlighted by the fact, for its first three years, the academy sent every player out without a fee, taking percentages of future sales instead in order to get them placed at all.

The wider list of destinations bears him out and looks nothing like the one you would predict. Alongside clubs in Spain, Italy and Sweden, YAP boast a number of successful exports to Brazil - a rarely trodden route - plus teams in more far flung destinations like Estonia and the United Arab Emirates.

Judged on readiness

Joaquín is careful about how he measures success.

"At Young African Promises, we do not want to be judged solely by the number of players we manage to transfer," he says. "We want to be judged by how well prepared those footballers are when they take the next step in their lives and careers. Emmanuel, Pape and Rockson have followed unique paths, but all three demonstrate what can happen when natural talent is combined with daily work, discipline and the right platform."

In Accra, forty players are preparing for October’s tournament, for the same set of eyes that found these three. When asked what our YAP graduates would say to any budding young professionals, they answered in more or less the same register.

"Achieving your dreams is not easy," N’Goran says. "The road is full of obstacles, and to overcome those you have to make many sacrifices. My advice is simple: always think about what you want to become and keep working towards it."

N’dao's version is shorter. "Be patient, respect the training and the coach's instructions, and believe in the project."

Asked what he wants from the rest of his career, he answers like someone who has been readied for it.

"To reach the highest level, to keep improving and win trophies. To write my own story in football."

The Future Talent Tournament returns in October. Watch every game on Wyscout and discover the best prospects in West Africa.

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