Ivory Coast 2024 – New Lines Magazine, Africa Rivista

“A football agent assured me that I could have a trial with a Moroccan club. I paid him around 2500 euros, but once I arrived in Casablanca, there was no trial, and shortly afterward I lost track of the agent,” recalls Armel, a 26-year-old Ivorian footballer. 

Football Trafficking is an underestimated but very widespread phenomenon that annually involves thousands of young talents and is particularly prevalent on the African continent from where more and more champions are now rising.  Exact numbers are impossible to determine due to the crime’s hidden nature.

Football trafficking is a topic that is rarely talked about by football institutions and in the media. We know the stories of those who have realized their dreams, but for many others, these aspirations have been destroyed by scammers. Few dare to tell because the social stigma is strong.

Ivory Coast, which won the last AFCON with its great champions, is among the most affected countries.  We went to neighborhood fields in Abidjan and the Ivorian suburbs, where the champions grow up and where agents go to find them.
Armel, Serge and David decided to tell their stories in the hope of helping others not fall into the trap.