Pro sports is about child-minded adults, playing children's games to entertain the child-minded adult masses, to enrich the elites.
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"...Brazil, Africa and elsewhere..." "...Brazil, Africa, and Portugal."
Athletic mercenaries! Just like Major League Baseball! I'm an old Dodger fan! For years now, it has become difficult to follow who is exactly on the roster! Dozier, Machado, Muncy! Dodgers?! Who?! Soccer is the same way, and some of the transfer fees are astronomical!
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You mean there are actually professional athletes who essentially have to break the law in order to earn their livelihoods and support their families?
Who knew? Aside from everyone who is remotely familiar with baseball, at least.
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I think that this is a little more complicated than an evil employer and a mistreated employee. It appears from this article that the crowds at the games are sparse and, according to the owner, he is funding the team to the tune of $70,000 euros a month. Without the team receiving transfer fees, there is no point in even having the team as it would be a complete financial drain. Thus, would it be better if these teams never existed and its players made less money in their home countries with a more restricted pipeline to the better European clubs? Or is it better if they make more money in a country like Lithuania but the club has greater control over the players' future?
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This makes FIFA look divine, when in fact, they are as corrupt as can be. As usual, wherever there is more money involved, more corruption tends to prevail, with the players getting the worst end of it. Well over a century ago, my paternal grandparents moved from Vilna, Russia (now Vilnius, Lithuania) to the United States via Ellis Island, NYC. They were very fortunate to leave, being Jewish, as several decades later most of the people from my grandfather's small village of 300 or so people (it was near Vilna; my grandmother lived in Vilna) did not survive WWII, due to the Nazis. This is not the same, but I can relate to the situation this young man finds himself in. Corruption permeates much of professional sports, for the reasons I wrote above. I don't know what else to write, except I feel bad for this young man and so many others in similar situations.
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Perhaps FIFA should set guidelines and limits to contracts to players by the individual teams, so that teams who want to participate in FIFA games must not abuse the players and hold them hostage. There are international laws against usury, slavery, and illegal detention. Throwing a lifeline to a young player from a poor country, and then holding them hostage through their best playing years is an evil practice that FIFA should eliminate throughout their organization. If the lower tier teams are not part of FIFA, FIFA may still be able to exert authority by setting eligibility rules in the terms of the buyouts that allow for fair compensation of the owners of the contracts to cover their expenses with an agreed upon margin of profit. The current system is abusive to the players, and rife for exploitation by organized crime.
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Same with Indian IT workers in USA. Often young they live 4-6 in a single BR apartment, cheated by Indian IT consulting companies. Now the queue for getting greencard is 20-70 years!
They waste their youth in USA...Look as long as inequalities exist there will be businessmen exploiting it for profit. Such is life very Darwinian.
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I see the disappointment but not the crime. It's painful to see the hopes of the young dashed but those hopes may be illusions. They, too, are a product of the system.
The players are accepting better jobs with better prospects than they would have otherwise had, though not as good as they would have liked.
The contractual terms are what make the opportunity possible. They are designed to limit the poaching of players that small teams have invested much time and energy in developing. Those teams deserve to be compensated for player development.
The transfer fees are typical for average players in top or second tier European football.
Africa needs to develop its club football leagues so that these young men have a chance to develop closer to home.
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Why are we surprised by this.
Exploitation of vulnerable individuals trying to escape, poverty, injustice, deprivation.
Baseball.
Basketball.
Probably other professional sports too.
Why would football be any different.
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Thank you Tariq Panja for this great article. I guess it’s better to earn 400 euros playing in Lithuania than nothing back home, seems like win win for all, although I’m sure some will find a human exploitation angle...
I was also intrigued and delighted to see Romain Molina listed as a contributor , he’s a gifted French football writer. It’s nice to see that he’s esteemed beyond the French shores , in the NYT no less !
The pernicious practice of a club paying an agent, directly, a fee for a player to change teams is a major cause of the strife.
The agent for Neymar received a 15% cut of the total contract. Not from Neymar..from PSG! So it is in the agents interest to keep moving bodies around Europe. And the clubs fear being frozen out of a future acquisition if they do not bend to the system and the agent. No movement ...no money.
Every other 'performer' pays the agent a percentage of the contact he is able to negotiate. Carnegie Hall does not pay the agent for The Rolling Stones. The Stones pay the fee. The New York Yankees don't pay the agent for Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton pays the fee.
The self dealing in world football is an outrage and of course FIFA sees it as in their interest as well. Reform of the myriad ways that a players future income is sliced and syndicated (as to a race horse) needs to be abolished.
@P.C.Chapman
They are not really agents in the conventional sense. They are more like free-agent scouts or recruiters that are typical in the HR world, what are called "headhunters."
Is it really self-dealing? In almost every industry, these recruiters are paid a percentage of the salary of the hired employee. The employee never pays. So, head hunters have an incentive to get a good deal for the potential employee. But, at the same time, they need to maintain a good relationship with the employer by presenting solid candidates.
It is really not much different than what is taken for granted in the HR world in the United States.
Every employee's value is spread out across a system of development. In the US, it is called "student loans." Banks capture a % of the future earnings of the student by paying the university up-front for education. Then, low paid entry level employees pay the salaries of expensive executives.
What's different here?
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Flesh trading, what does that remind me of ?
Indentured servants ?
De facto slaves ?
You can be sure they are seen as merchandise for the financiers who set up this medieval business.
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