A recent report by the BBC has shed light on the trafficking of young African footballers to Asia where they are then subjected to less than acceptable conditions.
Tonight on Off The Ball, Piers Edwards, the BBC reporter who is investigating the issue, joined us to talk about what he has discovered.
"All these boys went over to Laos - Liberian boys - and they were subjected to fairly harsh conditions. They were made to sleep in the bottom of the stadium, a room that had no glazing on the windows," he said.
"So they were at risk of malaria because they're being bitten by the mosquitoes that could come in and they were duped into believing that they were going to be forming part of this great new academy in this club in southern Laos and instead they got forced into signing contracts to ensure that they could play. Some of these guys were 14 and 15 years of age so it was a clear breach of FIFA rules."
Edwards also spoke about the cases of young players also being duped by agents promising lucrative moves to European clubs, in some cases leaving the boys stranded once they arrive on the continent.
"What often happens to these boys who do end up on the streets of Europe without any resource or help whatsoever, they don't actually want to go home because they don't want to return home with the failure of knowing that they have failed in their mission, in their dream to be a footballer," he said, adding that the Laos case was similar as the boys there were reluctant to go home to Africa.
Edwards also said that the scale of the problem means FIFA will probably have to create a wing of operation to look into the issue.
"It's not getting smaller. It's only increasing the amount of trafficking stories that we hear," he added.
Listen to the full interview via the podcast.
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