Case Studies of Victims of Football Trafficking

Moving from muddy pitches back home to play under the bright lights of La Liga, , 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:

 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/

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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. On the contrary, somebody bragging to have contacts at high level in professional football and wanting to be given money even before a contract or a trial in Europe was not to be trusted.

4 https://mission89.org/hanging-onto-a-footballing-dream/

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In this instance, Daniel managed to keep the fake agent at bay but he had been less successful on another occasion two years earlier.

I was only 17 and all I wanted to do was to have a chance, so when a man promised he’d give me a chance to play for Newcastle United, I wanted to grab it. He was also asking for $ 2,000. My family managed to borrow that amount by asking several people if they could lend us some money. The idea was that if I had been able to play in Europe I definitely would have been able to pay back the loan and also support my sister who is still studying… But unfortunately it was a scam, and, while we lost all that money, I never had the opportunity to move to England.

It was a hard blow, both financially and psychologically.

It was such a bad moment for me and my family as it made our financial situation even shakier than it already was. I was so desperate I even attempted to take my own life and even now, when I think about it, I get frustrated and end up crying. But I don’t want to give up and I am going to train as hard as I can to make it to the top. #4 MATTHEW EDAFE

 Country of Origin: Nigeria  Intended Destination: Spain  Current location: Nigeria via Cape Verde  Matthew’s Story5,6

Matthew was from a small city in Nigeria, a country that has produced generations of soccer stars now known around the world: Jay Jay Okocha, , , , , .

“He showed some photos he had taken with white people,” explains Edafe, today. “I don’t know how they do that — maybe it’s Photoshop — to show that they had the opportunity to travel.

“They bring a document that says they want to take 30 young players abroad; that for the very first game you play, any game, a trial match or whatever, they will give you $2000. When you sign the contract you will start earning anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000.

“The only thing that comes into your head during all that is the exchange rate from dollars to [Nigerian] naira. It is a question of your dream versus your reality. The person who is speaking looks well fed. You don’t even ask a question.

“The African is brought up to respect and not question their elders. The elders are not supposed to lie. The elders are supposed to be a paradigm of knowledge and honesty and wisdom. So the question is, how do I get myself onto this list of 30 players? Then the agent comes up with a ‘contribution’ you have to make, ranging from $2200 to USD$5000.

“People who are desperate then get more desperate, and sell their property, family land, houses, parents’ cars, to get on this team. But the agent says that we’re scheduled to play about 30 games so you will get the money back and more.”

5 https://mission89.org/video-trafficking-survivor-matthew-edafe-calls-for-professional-players-to-take- leading-role-in-education/ 6 https://medium.com/@matthew_hall/this-trade-is-evil-inside-the-secret-world-of-soccer-player- trafficking-5b959aa587a7

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If you were poor and desperate and had a dream, what would you do? Possibly what Matthew Edafe did do. He was told that once he paid the required fee, he would travel to Spain with the “team” of other young Nigerian hopefuls. Matches and a trial with a team in Spain’s second division would await. This was the big chance. There was no choice to make.

“My mother borrowed a lot of money,” Edafe explains. “She tried to make sure I made something out of life. We were really from the slum. Really poor people.”

But this journey would be no luxury trip, the way many professional footballers travel in the first class section of a jet or on comfortable air-conditioned VIP buses. With 22 other players, Edafe left Nigeria for Senegal before heading for Cape Verde — by boat. There, on the island, they were promised a training camp to prepare for Spain.

According to Edafe, after four days on Cape Verde, some white men, speaking a language none of the players understood, came by to watch the Nigerians train. They left without speaking to the boys. So, too, did the agent. Just like that.

The “team” was soon tossed from its hotel (prostitutes were among the other guests, Edafe recalls) and the players worked out what might have seemed obvious to others. There was no deal, no game, no tour, no plan, no money, and most of all, no agent.

Edafe was stuck in Cape Verde for 11 months. He says he lived on the street and did all kinds of jobs before he met a local girl who introduced him to her father. That earned him a job in a boatyard and led to a trip back to Nigeria on a ship.

“I was 20 years old in a strange land,” says Edafe. “We heard on the street that this is what normally happens. I thought I would never see my family again. I didn’t know what to do. I lost a chance to further my education and I lost a chance to play football. I was in a daze. There was no going forward. There was no going back.”

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