RB Leipzig and Mali midfielder Amadou Haidara has been expanding his foundation’s off-season camps beyond the capital of Bamako as he searches for talent for his academy, which is under construction in the capital city.
Haidara was born and raised in Bamako, but his parents are from Kéla, a village two hours away. Through his foundation, launched in 2021, Haidara was able to play a role in the opening of a medical centre there.
He hopes to have a similar impact on Malians both in and outside Bamako through football too, telling ESPN: “My generation inspired a lot of kids from Mali to become professional footballers.
“But there are a lot of academies in Bamako and if you’re not from the capital, it’s a lot more difficult to show yourself when you are a small, talented footballer.
“The main motivation for starting my foundation was to help young children in Mali to show themselves – to have a chance to play football, because not everyone has a chance, like I did, to play in a bigger academy. There are hundreds of thousands of kids who want to compete.
“I started the foundation in 2021. Before 2021, I just did it in an unstructured way, but since 2021, every summer, I have a big event with my own money.
“I am also building my own academy in Bamako, which is in construction and will be finalised this year. The best players from this edition will then go on to my academy, which will start in autumn (likely between October and December this year).”
The camp this year was the third edition, as COVID-19 put paid to plans for one event. The first two camps were in Bamako, but this year, it was held in Kayes. Going forward, Haidara wants to reach new areas each year to ensure that no child is left behind.
Both boys and girls can attend his camps, although the initial focus for the academy will be constructing boys’ teams.
For Haidara, the road to the top was far from easy, but at least the resources he needed to showcase his talent were at his disposal.
Mali is one of nine countries with a JMG Academy, founded by former France international Jean-Marc Guillou. Haidara excelled there and made it onto the radar of the U17 national team – for whom he played at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup en route to Mali clinching the silver medal.
He was unable to win the tournament, but Haidara nonetheless caught the eyes of Red Bull Salzburg. The following year, he signed for the then-Austrian champions. In his first season, he went on loan to their feeder club, Liefering, in the second tier.
However, he also played for Salzburg in the UEFA Youth League and made seven first team appearances for the prestigious club in all competitions.
By his second season, Haidara was a first team regular, and midway through his third, he was signed by Leipzig, the biggest club under the ownership of Red Bull.
Haidara featured regularly in Leipzig’s run to the semi-finals of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League and remains a rock in midfield to date, but throughout his professional career – the entirety of which has been spent under the Red Bull umbrella – rumours of a potential move to the Premier League have periodically popped up.
In the past, Haidara has been linked with a move to Manchester United, with Newcastle United also reportedly having monitored him. However, although he has previously told Bild that the Red Devils would be a “dream” move, he told ESPN that he is currently happy at Leipzig.
While Haidara is at pains to stress that he is leaving all options open for the future, the Premier League is not at the forefront of his mind – even as he ponders his football career bucket list.
Haidara said: “There’s a lot I want to achieve and I’m fighting every day to progress. Three main things come to mind: one would be playing a World Cup with Mali. Another would be winning the Champions League. A big dream as well would be to win the Africa Cup of Nations.”
Mali made the quarter-finals this year, but were beaten in extra time by hosts and eventual champions Côte d’Ivoire.
He continued: “This season, there’s three competitions to play – the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal 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]. It’s football and you never know what will happen – you can never say never to anything – but for the moment, I’m very happy here. The season will start and we’ll see what happens.”
Off the pitch, Haidara intends to keep travelling across Mali, with his contacts on the ground selecting hundreds of talents for his camps and his academy taking on the cream of the crop.
Support has come from telecommunications provider Orange Mali, who selected the best players from the 2022 camp for the Orange Sponsors Change tournament in Morocco, where the Malian contingent finished second.
Leipzig will face Rot-Weiss Essen in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 17 before kicking off their Bundesliga campaign against VfL Bochum on August 24.
The DFB Pokal airs on ESPN’s channels in Africa.
