For Olivier Diplo, a 22-year-old Ivorian, football is a taboo subject. Every mention of the beautiful game tenses the atmosphere and brings out the latent anger that spread in the house five years ago. In the humble home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where Diplo lives with his family, football rhymes with bitterness. “When I bring up the subject, they tell me to stop immediately, they threaten to throw me out on the street,” he explains.
Diplo claims to have fallen victim to fake football agents three times since he was 17. His father (now deceased), his mother and his stepfather spent at least 8,000 euros on a hope borne of pure smoke. It was a five-year period of unfulfilled promises in exchange for an obscene fortune for an average Ivorian economy. Along the way, properties were sold and debts accumulated.
It's an investment. If the boy is successful as a footballer, everyone will benefit and will therefore be willing to mobilize the necessary resources
Frédéric Lapeyre, ILO
“Fake agents have set up a business – in Ivory Coast and across Africa – for the simple reason that there is a lot of money in it,” says Marc Zoro, a former Ivorian player and president of a football players’ union in his country. Far from being crude charlatans, his methods are, in his opinion, reminiscent of the white-collar thief. “An intelligent and seductive person, a true specialist in lying.” From his office in Abidjan, Zoro reports on the havoc caused by the lies of these experienced fraudsters. “I know of cases of very young boys who were imprisoned in Thailand or Armenia. Desperate, helpless, with no money to return home.”
During his trip, Diplo was locked up at the airport and spent nights outside. He survived in Dubai for three months, training in public parks and waiting to be tested by an Emirati team that never arrived. They also guaranteed him that he would play for a club in India's premier league, but he ended up destroying his right arm in a tough 7-on-7 soccer league in the state of Kerala in the south of the Asian country. The third time they cheated on him, Diplo didn't travel. At first they were all charming words from a theoretical London agent. Then deadlines were postponed forever. Unanswered calls later. And in the end, the same result: money and more money thrown down the drain of broken dreams.
The interview with Diplo takes place on a dry football pitch in Abidjan, where part of Africa's rich football pool thrives. It's Saturday, match day, and two teams of teenagers are competing under the midday sun, enveloped in the humid heat of the Ivorian coast.
Gogon Loua, football coach and victim of a false agent, with two of his players in Abidjan (Ivory Coast).KATARZYNA STACHYRA 
Image of a game in an Ivorian youth football league. KATARZYNA STACHYRA 
Brice Djédjé poses in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). The young man traveled to Saudi Arabia, China or Morocco, deceived by fake football player agents.KATARZYNA STACHYRA
At 16 years old, tall and wiry, Yves is promising as a central defender. He claims to be aware of the danger of false agents. And he sums up the reason why they prevail so often: “For many African boys, our great ambition is to become professional footballers. If we see even the slightest chance of achieving it, we grab it. “That way it’s easy for them to manipulate us.”
Yves returns to the field. Pure coincidence or symptom of the extent of the problem: a spontaneous conversation with his two trainers shows that they were also victims of a false agent more than a decade ago. It happened in 2012 when they were both 16 years old and playing on the neighborhood team. A man provided her with sports equipment for six months, monitored her training for the love of art and pampered her with praise. “He has completely won our trust,” complains Gogon Loua, one of the trainers.
Then the fraudster threw the bait: a trial training session for a French team for 1,200 euros. The criminal's words stunned Loua, who put her dream within reach. “My family made a lot of sacrifices but was able to raise the money. We deliver it to you. Shortly afterwards he summoned us to some paperwork. He didn't show up for the appointment, so we went to his house. “He disappeared without a trace,” he remembers.
In order for the scam to prevail, the involvement of families is essential. Parents, uncles or grandparents are often poor and poorly educated and see these villains as a way out of misery. “It's an investment. If the boy succeeds as a footballer, everyone will benefit and are therefore ready to mobilize the necessary resources,” says Frédéric Lapeyre, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Côte d'Ivoire.
Lapeyre formulates the problem “in the migration phenomenon”. In contrast to the networks that control migration in Africa, the false agents are free, the person responsible continued: “They are simple opportunists who exploit extreme vulnerability.”
do not lose hope
Together with the International Federation of Professional Footballers' Associations (Fifpro) and the Didier Drogba Foundation, the ILO launched a campaign in March 2023 to warn against a deception that, according to an initial survey, estimated 27% of players in Africa will fall victim to contacted an agent. The initiative included a lecture tour of Ivorian football academies. Lapeyre, Drogba and Zoro traveled around the country urging people to check the credentials of the man who claims to be an agent. And to convey the importance of education: to better recognize liars and, if the football route doesn't work, to have a plan B with which you can earn a living.
“A plan A, I would say. Only a few children become professionals. But in Africa it is a given that football and school are incompatible,” explains Rodrigue Ettien, who played in Romania and Morocco until a serious injury ended his career. Before he turned pro, Ettien also heard siren songs. There were many people who drew dream horizons for him, always for a hefty fee. “I preferred to continue studying and give free rein to my talent. “If there is interest, it should be the team that bears all the costs,” he claims.
Unfortunately, Ettien admits, advances of non-refundable funds are a common practice when recruiting new talent. “There are European, North African or Asian clubs that don't want to incur costs without having seen the player live.” They invite you to take a test at their facilities, but don't take a euro of risk. The boy has to pay for transfers, accommodation, visa and maintenance. “If the test goes well, you will get your money back. If not, the club loses nothing,” adds Ettien. Children who want to make a living from football know that this is often the case.
In fact, there are endless opportunities for an African football player to sign for a foreign team. With no clear patterns to stick to, rumors, half-truths and true facts proliferate in a poorly regulated market, despite FIFA's recent attempts to restore order.
A dizzying merry-go-round of gossip and false documents brought Brice Djédjé halfway around the world. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, China… Each country, their scammers emphasized, works in its own way, with its own bureaucracies and complex processes. Djédjé experienced an odyssey of frustrations on which he and his family spent more than 10,000 euros. In 2013 he landed in Mohammedía, a small town near Casablanca (Morocco). “At the time it seemed like he was serious. About 20 players shared a house. They were Senegalese, Guineans, Malians… The man who took us there kept us going until one day he disappeared,” he says. In the years that followed, Djédjé worked on what came along while trying to maintain his form. “I still wanted to play in Morocco, even if it was in the second or third league.” Two years ago he decided to return to the Ivory Coast.
On Saturday afternoons, Olivier Diplo – the young man in whose house football cannot be discussed – plays games in the facilities of a school in Abidjan. On a small patch of grass lined with tropical vegetation, he and his friends demonstrate passion, physical strength and nobility. The best features of African football. Despite his long history of disappointments, Diplo isn't throwing in the towel and looking for a new opportunity. “Maybe in a small Spanish club,” he sighs melancholy.
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