84 African football players hired for top teams

“Most African football players give all their money to human traffickers to be able to play for the ‘Big Three’ and come to Istanbul,” said Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir. “By founding the Fatih Municipality African Friendship Sport Football Club, we support these players as much as we can. Upon seeing that the number is great, we started to organize the African Football Cup to promote them.”

The municipality has been organizing tournaments for the African footballers in Turkey for the last five years. Each tournament features 36 matches, and a total of 1,800 African football players have participated in the tournament.

Mayor Demir said that the tournament is a chance for these footballers to find themselves a professional team.

“Eighty-four of these footballers have been signe to various teams thanks to the tournament. French Premier League team, Nantes, and Spor Toto Super League team, Osmanlıspor, are among the most prominent of them. There are also transfers made to the various clubs in Anatolia. This social responsibility project was awarded a prize in the ‘Social Projects Conducted by Our Municipalities’ by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Directorate of Local Authorities,” the mayor said.

“A photograph taken during their meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become really popular. The world and African countries heard about African footballers in Turkey with the picture. African countries see that their players are looked after by Turkey and supported by the Turkish president. We will also support them in the future,” he said.