As grassroots football in Gambia continues to grow, the BK West United football academy in Bakoteh is hoping to give young soccer talents the chance of a lifetime: to be a professional player in the highest reaches of the sport.

Founded in 2015 as part of a German-Gambian football initiative, the academy provides Gambian players the chance to compete abroad. The club recently played against a youth team of Eintracht Frankfurt, a club in Germany's top-tier Bundesliga.

But the club also aims to develop its players off the pitch, helping and monitoring their education and providing them with a safe space to succeed.