CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Soccer is a popular sport throughout Africa; however, there is no infrastructure for professional soccer players. Professional soccer players outside of South Africa and Morocco are paid less than $100 per month and many are not paid at all to play. Young aspiring soccer players are therefore placing their hopes in prospects found abroad. This has created a breeding ground for traffickers.
How does it work? As there is no organized soccer in Africa, about 80 percent of youth soccer is run by non-official academies. Traffickers, usually men working for these training academies, use fake business cards to lure young aspiring African soccer players to pay thousands to get a shot at the big league.
In hopes of a better life, the families of these children pay the fake scout from $3,400 to $13,400. These families sell valuable possessions, at times even their homes, to gather these necessary funds. Once the fee is paid, the children are transported and subsequently abandoned at their destination.
The children are transported to Asia, Europe, and the Maghreb countries. There are thousands of abandoned aspiring African soccer players in Hungary, France, Italy Spain, Greece, Nepal, and Cyprus. It is estimated that 15,000 young African players are taken abroad every year under false pretenses.
What happens with these children? With no means of returning home and not wanting to disgrace their families with their perceived shame, these abandoned children remain as homeless youth in their destination countries.
In response to this issue, the Federation Internationale de Football Association has established the Transfer Matching System (TMS) that applies a requirement for prospective players under 18 to adhere to an investigative committee. However, TMS only protects players from organized soccer leagues, which comprise about 20 percent of players. More needs to be done to protect the other 80 percent.
Therefore, Jean-Claude Mbvoumin developed the NGO Culture Foot Solidaire group (CFS) in 2000. Mbvoumin is a retired professional soccer player from Cameroon, recruited to play for France.
CFS is a Paris-based group working to help the abandoned players throughout Europe as well as raise awareness in Cameroon. With the absence of sports policies in Africa, minors are unprotected. Therefore, CFS, with the backing of FIFA, focuses on establishing protective policies.
Their most recent success occurred last week when CFS signed an agreement with the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security. Mbvoumin hopes that both the European and African footballing authorities will provide further support.
Over the years of addressing this issue, CFS has developed a well-rounded approach that focuses not only on the sporting issues but also on the social. One such social project is currently being tested in Cameroon.
The project, Maison du Jeune Footballeur (Young Footballer’s Club), comprises a center full of resources tailored to development frameworks, young people, educators and soccer executives and to families. CFS recognizes that most young aspiring African soccer players will not become professional soccer players. Therefore, these youth need to be encouraged to develop other skills and work towards a diploma that can provide for their livelihood.
There is increased hope that trafficking of young African soccer players will decline. At this years International Conference on Young African Footballers, held in Cameroon, discussions surrounding soccer, migration, and protection of young players will be held.
Through increasing awareness, building accountability measures, developing protective sports policies, and creating widespread organized soccer leagues in Africa, these young players and their families will be able to invest in a promising future.
– Caressa Kruth