Slavery in soccer has little to do with Cristiano Ronaldo, but plenty to do with the exploitation of young players from Africa looking to make a career for themselves in Europe. The danger comes not just from exploitative clubs, but from fraudsters claiming that they can set up trials with clubs, then pocket a fee up front before disappearing with the cash.
A BBC undercover investigation has exposed scams operated by Nigerian fraudsters online who prey on the thousands of amateur players who post their details on the internet in the hope of being spotted by English agents. “Victims are often duped into sending money in the false belief that they are paying official registration fees to have a trial to play for their favorite English Premier League clubs.”
In the BBC investigation, an undercover reporter pretended to be the father of a young Ghanaian striker keen to make it big in England, exposing a man who claimed to work closely with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. He asked for a “registration fee” of $7000 and promised a two-year trial with the team. Another conman claimed to be Mike Emenalo, the former Nigerian international player who is Chelsea’s chief talent scout.