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The Documentary Podcast

Africa's football dreamers

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.32.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Football is an obsession for many Ghanaians and a route to fame and fortune for a talented few – and it can be a gruelling journey for the children dreaming of stardom in the world’s top leagues.

Against this backdrop, the country’s Right to Dream football academy aims to provide a safe passage to international game. Unusually, the school owns a number of top-tier clubs in Denmark, Egypt and the USA, which can act as stepping stones to the world’s top leagues, a path that stars such as Tottenham’s Mohamed Kudus and Atalanta’s Kamaldeen Sulemana have taken.

But while as many as 50,000 children try out for the school, just a handful win scholarships every year. Justice Baidoo meets the talented dreamers who hope to become the next generation of African superstars, from 10-year-olds attending their first trials in rural villages, right through to those taking their first steps as pro footballers in Europe.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.

0:07.2

Things just swirling around my head.

0:09.6

Am I really the product of this?

0:12.1

Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests.

0:17.0

Little did I know what more was to come.

0:19.5

I'm Jenny Clemen, and in the new series of The Gift, we'll hear more stories emerging

0:25.2

out of the ever-expanding global DNA database.

0:28.8

They did know that I was different.

0:31.7

You had kids together.

0:33.0

Yeah.

0:33.5

Then you met.

0:34.3

Then we met.

0:35.2

The Gift.

0:36.1

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:39.1

Welcome to the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:44.3

My name is Justice Beidu, and this is Africa's Football Dreamers.

0:50.9

I'm standing just outside a local church in Domi Pilar too.

0:55.3

It's in the heart of Accra, Ghana's capital.

0:58.8

Right in front of me is about 20 young kids who are running around after a football that is just about the size of a tennis ball.

1:10.5

So I want to have a bit of a play with you guys, right?

1:13.8

Okay, so let's go.

1:16.0

Okay, okay, too day.

...

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