Merchants of hope

“When someone gives you hope, here it is on a plate, there it is. Here is the price. You’ll pay it. They’ll profit. It’s disillusionment. Total disillusionment.”

For all the pride that African footballers such as Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Samuel Eto'o have instilled in their respective nations, their successes have come with a cost. Each year, thousands of young African footballers become victims to predatory agents, finding themselves stranded far from home with no way back.

Typically, the process is fairly straight-forward: an agent approaches a talented youngster, promising to schedule try-outs with European teams in exchange for a small fortune. His family, struggling to survive, readily agrees, selling off possessions and quickly delivering their savings in the hope that soccer can pull them out of poverty. Occasionally the agent travels with the youngster to Europe, and sometimes sets up a try-out with a local side, but more often than not, the agent abandons the youngster abroad, vanishing with the family’s fortune and condemning the child to a bleak future. While we obsess over salaries and transfer rumors, the underbelly of the transfer market is based on human trafficking.

This documentary by Current TV explores a side of soccer hidden from the public’s view. While it’s a few years old, it’s still required viewing. [Posted by Maxi]