It is no news that Football is a lucrative business especially when it comes to selling/transfer of players from a country like Nigeria to Europe or America, while that maybe the case the risk and stakes are high for all involved parties without the absence of clubs in Nigeria taking opportunity of some good players.
While grassroots academies in Nigeria are busy training and developing good European standard players the smart and dubious clubs or traveling academies are busy stealing the players with bogus regional scouting programs in Nigeria that lead the players to their club.
Within the past 4 years they’ve been reports of football academies in Lagos organizing scouting programs in states like Akwa Ibom, Abia, Rivers State and even Abuja to select outstanding football talents for sponsorship to foreign clubs all over the world, but that is usually not the case.
In 2015, a certain football club in Lagos organized a program in Akwa Ibom State and picked over 4 exceptional players from Blessed Stars Football Academy who recently produced the only U-17 World Cup player from Akwa Ibom State, Charles Etim. The player were then lodged in a hotel after the selection and driven to Lagos the following day to start training.
According to our source, the grassroots academy were neither compensated or presented with any documentation on players picked if in any scenario their players were to sign deals abroad. The academy released the players in good faith to the club, upon arrival after 4 months the club in Lagos made international passports for all selected players without consulting the parents of the players or the academy and continued training them. According to Blessed Stars Football Academy Media officer, the team in Lagos kept informing them that they had arranged deals for the players and that they would be traveling the following month once they’ve concluded and ready to make passports unbeknownst to the grassroot team that passport were already done.
The same story was told month after months for a duration of two years and five months (2yrs 5months), the management of Blessed Stars Football Academy eventually got fed up and asked that they return their players immediately.
The club in Lagos obliged to return the players, but not the international passport they had made for the players. About three months after all players had returned, Blessed Stars were able to secure two contracts for two players and everything was concluded except the passport for processing of player?s visa.
The grassroot team contacted the club in Lagos and requested that their players passport be returned to them on grounds that it’s an intellectual property of the players and that the club in Lagos would also be compensated for training the players for the period spent in their care. Their response came as a shock to Blessed Stars when the team said the passport couldn’t be released and that the players would have to be transferred from their club and not the grassroot team. Eventually the club in Lagos requested that N3.5million be paid cash per player passport before release of passport.
The case between the club and Blessed Stars Football Academy lasted for 4 months without a solution and the deal for the two players expired. It is reported that the team holds over 80 international passports of its players some of which have left the club without any deal.
This is a case of fraud, extortion and frustration. The victims (players and academy) have been greatly affected by their decisions.
This is the new scam being used by some fraudulent clubs, agents and even managers. As a player whether minor or over age of 18, no agent, manager or club has rights to withhold your international passport as a player it is your intellectual property and by law belongs to you.
Don’t be misguided
