A recent provocative online news item recounts how the dictator of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, accused FIFA of being a ‘global mafia’ that is running a modern day slave trade. He made these statements recently in regards to the way FIFA takes players from poor nations and transplants them into richer countries. This explosive statement begs to be studied further. Is there any truth to what he says; is FIFA involved in modern day slave trafficking, and can he be taken seriously? Gaddafi is, after all, known to crave media attention, and isn't shy about what he says. Someone less charged and of a more balanced opinion (Libya did, after all, lose out to South Africa in the bid to host the 2010 World Cup) might be a more credible source of information.
The premier of Libya's exact words were that FIFA was “trafficking in human beings and relaunching slavery (by) buying players from poor countries and placing them in (training) camps of wealthy countries before selling them again," (http://thefinancialdaily.com/NewsDetail/126742.aspx) condemning what he labelled a ‘corrupt organisation.’ So back to the original point made before: of whether there is any truth to this matter. If we leave aside his eccentricities, is he right about the biggest sporting organisation in the world being a global mafia? Well, slaves don't get paid and they are treated as being less than the citizens of the country they go to. The last time anyone checked, a talented African footballer playing in another country made so much money that he could probably wipe out the debt of his home nation. Therefore, on this point the Libyan leader falls short. What about if we disregard the top earners, and concentrate on the lower level footballers; is there anything dodgy going on there? At this level, even though these lower level footballers get paid well, they are transferred from one club to another as if they were a product or a commodity. The fact is that they move around so much that it becomes difficult to see them as human beings playing the sport they love, and instead they just become a product of the giant football machine churning out players all the time.
Africa has been in the spotlight in the past because many European clubs find a lot of talent from Africa. "Footballers from Africa are a hot commodity. European clubs have been going to Africa to look for talent since the 1950s, and in recent years the search has become a hugely profitable business. But unscrupulous traffickers also have their fingers in the pie," (http://topafric.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=211:a-new-slave-trade-europes-thirst-for-young-african-footballers&catid=34:diaspora-news&Itemid=122). The article the quote above is taken from goes on to talk about a football trainer and talent scout. His name is Guillou, and he runs many boarding schools and football academies in the continent. The problem is that he gets a signed contract from the parents, that says that he can train the children, and potentially sell them to a club if they are good enough. These children are his investment, and he has to make a return on his investment. Many politicians have called him a child trader and they claim what he does is illegal. But the flip side to this coin is that he is giving these young boys a better life than the one they currently have. He also gives them the chance to earn money and provide for their families. He is the facilitator of dreams on one hand, and according to some, a child trafficker on the other. This issue is so sensitive that people don't talk about it openly.
The story of these young players comes back full circle to Libya and the Gaddafis. It talks about a human trafficker who offered a young man the chance to play football in Europe, but instead, he was sent to Libya to show his skills to Saad Gaddafi, the son of the president. He wasn't given a contract, and the agent then took him to Paris, where he took the remainder of his money and took off. The evil side of football scouting had been fully exposed.
The problems with this issue are many, but there are positives as well; the young African footballers get a better life, they have the potential to earn more money than they could ever dream of, and they get to play the sport they love. The potential for human trafficking is rife as well with dodgy agents and scouts. Maybe Gaddafi was right after all, and the process of scouting needs to be policed by FIFA and other organising bodies much more strictly.
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