West Africa dominates the continent's football world, with countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Mali giving the North countries, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco a run for their money.
The west has produced legends such as Didier Drogba, Jay-Jay Okocha, Samuel Etoo and George Weah who were in the spotlight for years.
In spite of that, Kenya is slowly raising its name in the football realm with stars like Dennis Oliech, McDonald Mariga and Victor Wanyama putting the country on the map.
Many young and talented Kenyan players only dream about playing for elite International football clubs, with a few getting the opportunity to showcase their skills and talent for the sport.
This gives them hope to chase their dreams.
An academy in Nairobi is striving to produce Kenyans' next future talents. Acakoro Academy is not only a pillar of hope for the children in the Korogocho slum, one of the largest slums in Nairobi but it has also proved that with determination and hard work, one can achieve success.
The academy showcased its skills to the world in two separate tournaments by defeating FC Barcelona in 2016 and Athletico Madrid juniors in 2015.
This led the academy to win the Donauauen Cup, a tournament that has been described as one of the toughest junior championships in Europe.
“The Academy is a great opportunity to help socially disadvantaged children living in the slum. Our main objective was to make sure we had enough players to make national teams. In the future, we hope these children can help their families and community.” Mohammed Rashid a coach at Acakoro said in a past interview with KBC
Acakoro Academy provides training materials such as one ball per child, training clothes, football shoes, and advanced training material, among other things.
"We instil skills and football knowledge through theory and practicals", coach Rashid said.
The academy began as an Austrian-Kenyan collaboration project in 2013.
On a daily basis, 12 coaches provide high-quality youth football training and emphasize on an individual approach, both on and off the field, for the Acakoro children's holistic development.
Apart from their players, one of the Academy’s female coaches, Jackeline Akoth was appointed as the women under 20 national team coach in 2017.