Saeed Osumar’s passion brought him from Ghana to
Moscow after someone posing as a football agent
five years ago had asked him for $2,000 to secure a
contract with a Russian club.
The amount was four times the annual minimum
wage in Ghana.
Osumar made his own way to Moscow, eyeing the
greener pastures that apparently awaited him. Once
he got there, the ‘agent’ disappeared. And so did
the money.
Tales like Osumar’s are not uncommon. According
to an estimate by Foot Solidaire, a Paris-based
charity working to increase the protection of young
footballers globally, up to 15,000 young African
footballers are taken abroad annually under false
hopes – over a third of them head to Europe.

‘Stay patient and focused’
Twenty-six-year-old Nigerian footballer
Stephen Sunday has developed an international
career in Europe after a remarkable twist of
fate.
At 15, he was left stranded in Paris after a man
who had promised him an overseas contract
disappeared. After spending two months alone
in France, he managed to move to Madrid,
where some fellow Nigerian footballers helped
him secure his first contract.
He now plays in the Bulgarian top tier with
CSKA Sofia.
“My advice to young players would be to take
one step at the time, to stay focused and not
allow any agent to distract them from what
they are doing,” he said.
“One needs to give an agent two years [before
trusting him]. If he really cares about you and
wants the best for you and your career, he will
stick with you and press clubs until he finds the
right one.”

Many end up stranded in Europe, Asia, North
America or the Middle East as they cannot afford to
return or are too ashamed to do so.
New rules
Under the new Fifa rules - finalised in in 2009 and
coming into effect on April 1, 2015 - contract
negotiations between players and clubs are no
longer facilitated by licensed football agents, but by
‘intermediaries’.
Football agents were required to take exams run by
their country’s football association before obtaining
a license. The intermediaries are now asked to
register by self-certifying they have an ‘impeccable
reputation’ and no conflict of interest.
A Fifa spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the reform
was conceived precisely to curb the ‘unacceptable
practices’ that had arisen in the business.
Players and clubs are now required to disclose to
their football association the full details of each
transaction an intermediary is involved in.
“The new system should be more transparent,
effective and simple to administer and implement,
resulting in better and more efficient enforcement
at national level,” the spokesperson said.
Increased risk?
Only up to 30% of international transfers used to
be concluded through licensed agents when the
reform was drafted, according to Fifa.
But Foot Solidaire is concerned that scrapping of
the licensing system will increase the risk of frauds
and abuse.
“It's a catastrophic reform for the protection of
players, particularly young ones, and especially in
Africa,” Foot Solidaire founder Jean-Claude
Mbvoumin told Al Jazeera.
This is because the new rules remove the
independent vetting and scrutiny of those coming
into contact with young footballers.
Similar concerns have been raised by Jake Marsh,
head of training and youth protection, sport
integrity, at the Doha-based International Centre
for Sport Security (ICSS).
“[The reform] opens players up to more forms of
exploitation,” Marsh said. “We could potentially see
more trafficking and it will become harder to
investigate.”
Marsh argues that football, and sports in general,
should adopt more business-like practices.
“I don't know of many other industries where
intermediaries can self-certify their good character,
where a broker isn't properly vetted, regulated or
has professional standards.”
The Fifa spokesperson, though, stressed that the
new regulations only set minimum criteria.
Football associations can introduce any additional
requirements they deem necessary to allow
intermediaries to operate. The English FA, for
example, has established that individuals
representing minors need to provide a criminal
record check from an official body to obtain specific
authorisation.
An ‘organised scam’
But many football associations will just comply with
that minimum criteria, according to Marsh who
added that criminal activity in sports has become
increasingly sophisticated, which deepened the
need for more scrutiny and guidelines.
Academy and young players often publish their
videos and provide contact details on social media
in order to be noticed by scouts. And that is where
fake agents often approach them. The criminals
then offer the possibility of participating in trials.
“It is an organised scam but for a young talented
player, the offer could look totally credible," added
Marsh.
Agent Eby Emenike, who works in the UK, Nigeria
and Ghana through her agency TBD Sports
Management, has seen how convincing the tricks
devised by rogue operators are. She has run
workshops raising awareness among young players.
“I have seen documentation [sent by fraudsters], for
example letter-headed documents that are
identical to the clubs’ logos,” she said.
“The information on there is as it would be if it was
a real letter.”
Fake agents usually manage to extort sums between
$300 and $3,000 for processing paperwork, paying
for travel expenses, passports and visas, according
to Emenike.
Young footballers eager to leave Africa are also
inclined to try their luck if they are given a chance,
no matter how small, to realise their dream.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/price-african-footballer-dream-150416140747334.html

no be small thing.....

khel:
no be small thing.....

azzin eh.....

That's what it is.. Cc Lalasticlala