Case Studies of Victims of Football Trafficking
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Case Studies of Victims of Football Trafficking Moving from muddy pitches back home to play under the bright lights of La Liga, Serie A, Premier League or Champions League is a dream shared by many aspiring footballers around the world. But wherever there are ambitions and aspirations there are also ruthless individuals ready to exploit those young dreamers. They claim to be football agents with contacts in Europe, approach kids who dream to play in Europe and ask for money from them or their family with the promise that they will arrange the documents needed and a trial at a professional club. However, when the youngster reaches the destination, if they do, the trial does not happen and, in the worst case scenario, the player is abandoned. Below are several specific cases of these incidences, based on detailed desk research and in-depth interviews conducted by researchers at Mission 89: #1 OLAWALE “Wale” SUNDAY Country of Origin: Nigeria Intended Destination: Russia Current location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Wale’s Journey: (excerpt from David McArdle’s piece in The Diplomat1) Wale left Nigeria in 2013, having paid $3350 to a rogue agent who had promised him a trial with an unnamed club in Russia, a destination now revered among African football circles for its generous financial rewards. Accompanied by a group of similar recruits, they arrived in Dubai and were each given one-way tickets to Dushanbe, where they were then met by a Ghanaian merchant- of-sorts: “Charles *the Ghanaian+ met us off the plane and told us we would play for Lokomotiv Dushanbe,” a side that has little in common with its Muscovite namesake. Quite why Charles was in Tajikistan was never properly explained, although his role in assuring the young players upon reaching Dushanbe, with hindsight, appears crucial in the process: “Charles married a Tajik girl so he is stuck there forever,” Wale reveals as if discussing a lengthy period of incarceration. “He uses players as slaves.” After three months at Lokomotiv, Wale decided to break free and move north, having received a recommendation from his friend, Ebeneezer, who had arranged a trial with Alga, a side from Kyrgyzstan’s capital – a wheezing shrine to Khrushchev’s architectural legacy. Having organized his Kyrgyz visa independently, like a wayward backpacker in Dushanbe, Wale then paid $60 to board a marshrutka (minibus) for two days, crossing several high-risk mountain passes, before reaching Bishkek, but not without the ubiquitous struggle most foreigners encounter with Central Asian bureaucracy: “I was detained on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border for several hours, for no reason,” he says. Upon arriving in Bishkek, Wale was to discover that his passport was expiring, with Bishkek’s Alga offering a letter of invitation required for visa purposes in return for Wale’s services. “I flew back to 1 https://thediplomat.com/2015/09/selling-dreams-along-the-silk-road/ Nigeria for four days to get my new passport, but I didn’t see anyone,” Wale admits, preempting my next question. “In Africa, we have such a mentality that if one is to leave, then that person should not come back empty handed.” Wale’s difficulties were never openly discussed, out of an element of embarrassment and perhaps shame, as he has never to this day received any form of remuneration from either club he has played for during his time in Central Asia: “My brother helps me,” Wale tells me, both with gratitude and anguish. #2 P. (pseudonym) Country of Origin: Dakar, Senegal Intended Destination: Professional football club in Italy Current location: Abandoned in Genoa, Italy P’s Journey: (by Daniele Canepa2,3 based on interviews he conducted with the victim, P.) P. is a 17-year old Senegalese boy, whose ambition, like many others around him is to become a professional footballer in Europe. In tournaments played locally in Dakar, he emerges as one of the most talented youngsters. Hence, P. believes that he can make it in the Europe, just like some of his compatriots, one of them Khouma Babacar who is a prolific striker for Fiorentina in Seria A, a few years older than him and a striker just like him. When he is approached by a man (intermediary) who boasts of contacts with several European clubs, P. feels ready for the big jump. The sway of promises for a trial (try-out) in a European professional football club proves too difficult to resist. There is one caveat though. His mother is against it: the risks of betting everything on football are too high, especially in a distant and unknown continent like Europe. The intermediary, however, leverages P.'s expectations, thus creating friction between P. and his mother. Ultimately, P.'s mother is convinced and consents to her son's departure. She also pays a sum requested by the self-styled football agent: it is only a supposition because in reality P.'s mother will never reveal this detail to him. Eventually, P. leaves for Italy, arriving in via the regular route by plane. The landing at Fiumicino Airport in Rome represents for P., an abrupt awakening for several reasons. First of all, when P. calls the agent from Fiumicino to inform him of his arrival, he seems surprised. "Unbelievable! You made it to Italy!" seems to be the gist of the phone conversation, which heightens P’s suspicion that the so-called agent who had already collected a sum of money from his mother in Dakar, was part of a wider scam that did not envisage for P. to make it this far. “I had just set foot in Italy and already wanted to go back," P. said with emotion. The fact is that all the elements that he hadn't thought of before, blinded by the desire to succeed in European football, immediately appear one after the other. He doesn't speak a word of Italian and the climate and the country are very different from his, as are the means of transport. P. realizes this last detail immediately because, really surprised or not, the agent told him that he is waiting for him in Milan. And it's only after several hours that, after having turned empty at the airport, P. manages to set off for Roma Termini, from where he will take the train to Milano Centrale. From Rome, where he landed, P. reaches the man he is supposed to meet in Milano Centrale not without difficulty, since this is his first experience being in a country totally different from his own, 2 http://www.pagina2cento.it/2020/04/18/football-trafficking-storia-di-p-e-disillusione-2-parte/ 3 http://www.pagina2cento.it/2020/04/18/football-trafficking-storia-di-p-e-disillusione-2-parte/ 1 and the only language he speaks fluently is Wolof. On arrival in Milan, P. meets his compatriot and self-styled agent, whom request that hands over his visa for “safe keeping”,until at least the moment of the first football trial , which takes place with a team from northern Italy, at the time languished in Italy’s second division, Serie B. The trial, however, does not go as P. would have hoped. A combination of too much pressure to perform in an unfamiliar environment, at a temperature to which he is not accustomed - no minor hurdle - surrounded by teammates who speak an alien language, seems too much of a barrier for the teenager. At the end of all this, P. is left to fend for himself, stranded in a country 4,000km away from Senegal. At a later time, P. is in fact told to go to the port city of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy, for a second trial opportunity with another club. At the scheduled appointment, P.'s “agent”, without giving any notice or explanation, does not show up at the agreed time and place, leaving the young man alone in a city he does not know. Without a place to go and without money or documents, the young man manages at least to find a roof under which to sleep in the historic centre of Genoa, with an acquaintance of his family. This event marks for P. the beginning of a period of clandestine existence, as an illegal immigrant and victim of football trafficking in a foreign land. #3 DANIEL SALEH IKO Country of Origin: Kogi State, Nigeria Intended Destination: Newcastle United F.C, England Current location: Nigeria Daniel’s Story: (by Daniele Canepa4 based on interviews he conducted with the victim) “I come from Kogi State, a central region of Nigeria, and have always wanted to become a footballer. I’ve played for local professional teams and I’m still playing and training hard as I don’t want to give up on my dream. Not long ago, a man who claimed to have contacts in European football approached me saying that I was too good for the league where I’m playing. He added I should consider moving to a more ambitious stage. He said if I or my family had managed to put together about $ 3,500 for the expenses needed, he would provide me with some good opportunities to play professionally in Europe” Fortunately for Daniel, soon afterwards he met trafficking survivor & Mission 89 Ambassador Matthew Edafe, who gave him some advise. Talking to Matthew helped me open my eyes. First of all he gave me a lot of encouragement and support. Then he made me understand the reality of that offer. He explained to me that when a real agent sees talent in a player, and if he really believes in that talent, he will be ready to invest rather than asking for money in advance because he’s confident that one day, when a proper contract is signed, he will get his own commission from the club.