African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

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African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Did you ever wonder what so many Nigerian footballers are doing in Cambodia ? And why they often turn up in the news accused of scams and trafficking ? A number of African footballers in south East Asia are in fact scam victims, lured here by false promises and too poor to return home.

Southeast Asia's African Football Slaves
Hoping to become football stars, young West Africans are coming to Southeast Asia in droves. Some will never make it home.
By Jeremy Luedi
February 15, 2018
It was a sweltering summer day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as a young aspiring football player stepped onto the parched, brown turf of the 70,000 capacity Olympic Stadium (which, despite its name, has never hosted the Olympic Games). Already in ill health, he nevertheless braved the 37-degree Celsius weather; little did he know that he would be dead before the final whistle.

This was the fate of Wilson Mene, a 25-year-old player for Prek Pra Keila — a Cambodian football team in the country’s Metfone C-League — who died after suffering a heart attack on the field.

It would have been a tragedy under any circumstances; however, Mene’s background catapulted the story into the national consciousness. Like hundreds of others, Mene had journeyed from West Africa (Nigeria, to be precise) to Cambodia in the hopes of becoming a football star.

The fact that hundreds of Africans are competing to play in the minor leagues of a small, largely overlooked nation on the other side of the world highlights the lack of opportunities for African youth back in their home countries. Dreams of football glory lead many aspiring athletes to pursue a professional sports career, one of the few avenues of social mobility in West Africa. While the ultimate goal for most is to find mainstream success in Europe, an oversaturated market to the north has many looking instead to the east.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/southea ... ll-slaves/
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prahocalypse now
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Re: African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

Post by prahocalypse now »

Someone should give Jeremy Luedi a dictionary so that he can look up the meaning of the word 'slave'.
King Keil
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Re: African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

Post by King Keil »

Hundreds? Also they are playing in the evening when it's not that hot.
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Re: African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

Post by finbar »

prahocalypse now wrote: Wed Mar 07, 2018 8:01 am Someone should give Jeremy Luedi a dictionary so that he can look up the meaning of the word 'slave'.
As in "bond servant", or like this:
The youths, some as young as 14, had been invited to the country by former Liberian international player Alex Karmo to join his football academy, only to be forced to sign six year contracts for Champasak United. While their contracts promised pay and accommodation, the young players never received any money and were confined to the club’s stadium, where almost 30 players slept on the floor in a shared room.
Then again the article makes it sound as though all the Africans in SEA are trafficked footballers, but I don't think that's the case, many are surgeons, international lawyers, scientists, authors, on creative retreat, and so on.
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that genius
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Re: African football slaves drawn to Cambodia and SEA

Post by that genius »

finbar wrote: Wed Mar 07, 2018 9:07 amThen again the article makes it sound as though all the Africans in SEA are trafficked footballers, but I don't think that's the case, many are surgeons, international lawyers, scientists, authors, on creative retreat, and so on.
Without doubt! 8)
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