Young African players duped into slavery by traffickers

An estimated 1,000 African children a year are tricked into coming to europe for nonexistent football trials by traffickers who take their money and abandon them.

the true scale of the problem may be even higher because many of the children, who arrive on false passports, are sold into slavery and vanish off the radar.

some are brought into the UK by traffickers, who worm their way into junior football clubs in Africa’s most impoverished nations or sometimes simply contact them on social media, telling them they can earn a fortune in the Premier League.

An expert panel convened at the european Parliament to discuss the problem ahead of eU anti-trafficking day today, has heard that football has failed to deal with the problem.

‘We cannot allow sport to be implicated in this crime,’ said Baroness Young of Hornsey, who has campaigned against modern slavery. ‘Our own young people will not like that we are allowing this to happen. We are letting them down by allowing it. We must commit to doing something concrete.’

the panel of 70 people, convened by the mission 89 charity, heard that FiFA’s decision to end licensing of agents in 2015 had contributed to the problem, by leaving parents with no way of knowing if their children are being preyed upon by criminals masquerading as professionals.

James Johnson, FiFA’s head of professional football, said: ‘it’s not worked so the decision is to bring it back.’

But those trying to fight trafficking have also described a reluctance among some clubs to let academic experts speak to young African players, to better understand who the traffickers are and how they operate.

some star players are less willing than others to help communicate the threat of traffickers. interpol want more to follow the lead didier drogba (above) has set in communicating with young Africans.

Premier League director of international football relations mathieu moreuil told the panel, who met at the european Parliament in Brussels: ‘Are there any cases of child trafficking in the UK? Probably. But hopefully not in the Premier League.’

FiFA have introduced rules designed to prevent trafficking, which ban the movement of under 18s in most cases.

Both manchester City and Chelsea have been charged with breaching them. the City investigation centres on claims by George davies, from sierra Leone, and Ghanaian dominic Oduro. the Chelsea inquiry centres on Bertrand traore, from Burkina Faso, and domingos Quina from Guinea-Bissau. Both clubs deny wrongdoing.