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Football, I would say, is the number one sports here in Ghana.
Both, kids and adults, everyone lives football.
In every country in the world there are people who are passionate about football.
But the proudest and the most fierce fans are found in the poorest continent of our planet.
Here in Africa the brutality of poverty is unbelievable -
but at the same time we come along an enormous love towards the game.
The dream of many young people is a footballcareer.
On TV and online: Football everywhere.
Through the division of the day of play the dfl could triple the revenues of the clubs
through the TV in only 10 years.
To over one billion Euros.
But many clubs want even more money.
They refere to the competitive position towards the english premier league.
Their clubs cash due to the actual TV-contract 6.9 billion Euros.
Football is a dream factory on a Hollywood level.
The only 20 year-old dembélée strikes himself from dortmund to Barcelona
for a transfer fee of far more than 100 million Euros.
A star like lewandowski gets a million-sallary in Munich.
But still he wants to play at real Madrid where he would earn even more money.
Although the trailer doesn't look like that,
it's been long since football was only a game for simple people.
But there is no limit.
Welcome in France, neymar switches to Paris Saint-germain.
The latest record-transfer.
Paris pays 222 million Euros transfer fee for neymar.
A contravention of the financial fair play
but the first 300 million Euros deal is already in process.
These sums remain utopian for many players and clubs.
We also see a development in sports like in the society and it's not positive at all.
Big differences between rich and poor
the very great get richer and richer while it strains the clubs, the associations
and as well the players
and the chances for the really small to keep up continues decreasing
and if the balance vanishes completely it will naturally get difficult.
This trend is not new at all
already in the past players here in Germany had to notice that inequality.
I was in Germany myself and I didn't understand German.
I couldn't read it either.
I signed an agreement that was completely written in German.
How should I understand it?
I signed a five-year-deal, from which I thought it was a two-year-deal.
In the case of Charles akonnor, also called ck, no one can claim to not have known anything.
Because in the year 2010 the case was already discussed publically in the German TV.
What was the matter? Did you sign a bad deal?
Well, I don't want to say it like that,
but I had a two-year-contract
and two years of option and then another year of option,
that means I played there for 5 years.
And from the beginning you want to come here and play here
but when you notice how this job works you realize it's not good.
I have been hosed or so.
It is not a single case.
Between the self-appointed consultants and scouts
there are thousands that would use any means to cash up in this million-business.
The abundant salaries of the players
the astronomical hums of transfer fees
and the commission for the agents
attract daily worldwide new businessmen in the industry of the professional football.
You have been dreaming of becoming a professional.
You want to get there.
Back then we often watched the "bundesliga" on the TV in Ghana.
The big dream to escape the poverty with the strength of the own feet and the skill at a ball
is now as strong as never before.
It is dreamed by the smallest of the small.
Gigi is one of them.
The almost 6 year old gigi is all into football.
He is one of many millions of talented children in Africa,
that would happily be taken by one of the highly sophisticated footballschools.
In a German team gigi would rough up his companions.
People would rumour about a once-in-a-thousand years-talent out of the own little town
and everybody would be proud of the little gigi, whose rosy future lies before.
But gigi is still here in Africa
alone with his mother and his siblings.
Alone with his big dream.
We asked the mother what she wishes for her son.
Education is very important in the life of gigi
which is the reason why I encourage him to study a lot besides football.
In case he shouldn't reach the top-level
he has to acquire high a good education to find another job.
How does the trainer help with everything?
The coach tries his best to look after the boy, although his financial situation isn't good either.
Therefore sometimes I have to intervene myself and look what I can do for the coach and the boy.
We ask the young mother how she would react
if a stranger of Europe would offer her a 100.000 Euros for his little gigi.
Would she take the offer?
Only if the agent would allow the boy to call me to ask me how I am.
And what would you do with the money?
If an agent came and offered me a 100.000 dollars
I'd do the following with it:
Because the coach had to suffer a lot with the boy and his football playing
I would split the money in three parts.
One part for the boy, one part for myself and another part for the coach.
But it's a long way till the scouts and the clubs will be interested in the little gigi.
To even have a chance he first needs the possibility to train, to play, to eat and to sleep.
Without the little footballschools the children here wouldn't even have shoes or a ball.
But the training system of young players in most of the African countries
can't be compared at all to ours in Europe.
The footballschools here in Africa appear to be youth clubs or recreation centres.
There is no money from the government for trainers, caretakers and conductors.
There is also no support through a football association or the clubs.
The kids play with a haywire ball on a sandfloor.
Nothing could be more distant to the European millioncircus.
The only support comes from former professional footballplayers, that befriend the kids.
They take care of them on and besides the football ground,
often without getting money for it.
Jonathan blade is one of them.
Sadly, most of the parents are so poor, they rarely have food.
Though I have my own problems to come along.
Sometimes I give them tasks so they can help me.
But mainly I do it for the children.
The parents of the children have no money.
They live as simple farmers from hand to mouth.
I this village, everybody is a farmer.
There are no other jobs.
The volunteer trainers and agents hope to mediate one of their pupils to Europe
through scouts that wander regularely across the country.
Another chance are the bigger, regional football schools.
But those can hardly pay for a mediation.
The commission is very low.
For everyone, I provide to wafa, I get 200 Euros.
Nevertheless, I'm their only hope.
I only say to them:
We don't have money.
So when you want to achieve something, you have to work hard.
You have to look for yor chance.
Despite this terms every year players out of this conditions reach the European top-leagues.
Mohammed of fc dreams has already achieved considerably much
with his small football school and the attached football-club.
Ever since we formed this club, we could bring out players like baba rhaman
who plays in Chelsea.
Emmanuel adjei sowah, who plays in anderlecht
and Benjamin tetteh, who plays in liege in Belgium.
As well as basit Khalid, who plays in Pristina in Kosovo and Johnson owusu oppong who plays in braga.
Here in Africa people speak about producing players for the world trade.
There are different business models how a player gets trained,
built up and mediated at the end.
Because besides this methods that appear rustic
there are international sponsored football schools
like the center of excellence of the wafa over here.
First of all I have to go back to your first question about the wafa and the right to dream.
They don't provide so successfully, as we do.
They have a different buisness model.
We also have direct contact to Europe.
We assure that we travel through the whole country to look for the best talents that we put into our youth-team.
When we think that they are good, we invide scouts to pick their favourites.
Wafa, a former center of excellence of red bull,
that was build for several millions of dollars in the middle of the nowhere in Africa
follows the European concept of football-youth work.
High-quality pitches,
modern technology
and a life like in a holiday-paradise.
But still the success is little:
One player in each case achieved to play in the first and second league of the Netherlands.
Till now, none of the protéges of those European seeming footballschools
could establish himself in one of the four top leagues in Europe.
Karel brokken is one of the directors of the wafa,
he has already dedicated decades of his life to the African football.
The system of his training centers shall work without agents and mediators.
He follows all internatioal human rights recomendations
and guidelines of the protection of the youth.
The wafa always negotiates with the clubs on their own
and comply with the under-18-regulation,
that notes that it's not allowed to sell minor players.
I've been in Africa for some time now.
I'm here since 1985
and earlier I scouted for clubs and I also worked a bit as an agent.
Since '85 I have been in kongo, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
There is no sponsor-income in Africa.
Because all the big football-companies, like Adidas or puma, are rarely interessted.
They want to sell their Jersey from clubs, they give money to.
But the people here, can't affort it.
The local football clubs are not only disregarded by the sponsors,
also the FIFA and other associations hardly support them.
For karel brokken these are big stumbling blocks in the career of big talents from Ghana.
Most of the teams of Ghana cannot compete with clubs of other African countries.
I mean that countries, in which French is the spoken language.
If you want to play on an international level, in the African champions league or the African league,
you have to do it on your own expenses.
For him it's clear where the support should come from:
The money should come from FIFA
or from other big clubs in Europe.
Many teams don't take part, because they cannot cover the costs.
While the European champions league distributes large amounts of money to the clubs,
the participants at the African counterpart have to pay for everything by themselves.
This includes the traveling costs,
the catering and the accomodation as well as entry fees.
And this despite the African-wide broadcast of the matches.
What would be a big help, is
the poverty.
If the poverty could dissipate, that would be a very good thing for Africa in general
and for the development of the players.
Because at the end, it is all about poverty.
No matter, whether we look at the football school created by one's own initiative
or the football school subsidized with millions by red-bull:
They all struggle with the same issues.
In the first place are the poverty and the hardship of the young talents and their families
and the haggling as 3 result of that.
Many people blame the hundreds of scouts, agents and mediators
for the suffering of the numerous kids,
that fall by the wayside chasing their big dream.
We have asked the Africa- and football-expert Paul nehf about that.
Searching for football talents in Africa is very fascinating out of several reasons.
On the one hand, because you come across players with a quality,
whom you would be arguing about with big consultant agencies here.
On the other hand because it's more fun to scout there,
it's much more fun to watch some tournament at a crappy football pitch,
than watching the tit for tat, the banter of the junior bundesliga.
Big parts of the reporting in the media are already covered by the business behind football.
You start to understand that down there you really have to focus on the talent of the player
and cut out all the other circumstances, that the player is exposed to.
Africa offers so much potential which is only used by French and maybe belgish clubs,
but it think that Germany is one step back referring to that.
It's time to move forward, because Africa is gonna change in the next ten years
like south America changed 30 years ago.
Italy as well
because they have some loopholes to bring to their country players earlier, at a younger age.
These are normally the first countries.
To carry such a big responsibility, which lies on your shoulders
scouting young adults and adolescents,
a special education is surely needed, right?
I haven't absolved a special education to be scout or consultant of players.
Licenses are fine and dandy, but of course there are ways to avoid them.
The people slowly get it.
It's not normal,
that people, that haven't anything to do with football have the power and the money.
Obviously there are people, who only have in mind to gain money,
but sometimes the output is still good, cause without the ones, who really gain money,
far less talents would accomplish to come here.
Personally I think that's the players who create the career of their manager and not the other way round
quite frequently the managers try to get their playersin famous clubs and promise them a big career.
But it doesn't work like that.
What characteristics are needed to become a player-agent?
I think additionally to the expert knowledge
so that he can give the player useful advices and help him to really advance athletically
he should be reliable and really believe in the player.
And support him in difficult times.
He should not only look after money but also care for the player.
I handed over my little brother to a big agent, I won't name.
Just beacause he had all these famous players under contract.
But he didn't have time for him.
He put him in a random club and forgot him
and continued, making millions out of the big players.
Listening to the fact, that consultant agencies don't provide the best results for the young players,
what about the football schools?
Are the big academies the right thing for our gigi?
There is obviously no advantage in footballing terms in players
who are not in one of the big academies,
because even if they were highly talented,
they would always be better if they trained under professional conditions.
The advantage for me as scout or consultant agent is,
that the players are normally easier to pick up.
Less people's interests are involved.
It's easier for the scouts
which want to bring the kids to Europe
to profit from the children.
That's due to the fact that life is more difficult there.
Most of the time we negociate directly with the clubs.
And if something doesn't work, the boy comes back.
We don't work with agents.
The interesting thing is, that the guys are probably not the most talented,
but they were lucky to get in there, blundered into it, happened to be discovered
and the guys on the street maybe just weren't lucky.
Just looking at the innate skill Africa is an endless source of high quality players,
but the education is simply different
and their football playing nowadays is coined by European football playing.
It's important for the adolescent African player to leave Africa as soon as possible
to train under professional conditions.
And an African 17-year-old is not necessarily a child anymore,
that has to be protected.
The boys down there usually leave school at 12/13 and earn their families living.
Clubs in Germany have to proof this consultants, they have to cooperate with them.
It shouldn't be possible, that consultants suppose 17-year-old players for a transfer.
Without their parents.
How should that work?
That's not normal.
If you have no idea of how the business works you won't know how much money to claim.
That's the reason why mediation agents are needed.
But of course there are bad mediation agents, that claim too much money,
that don't look enough after the boy, especially in bad times.
So, there are bad mediation agents here and there either.
To prevent human trafficking and children trafficking
there are rules and laws and all kinds of institutions,
but again agents, players and clubs have different opinions on the topic.
I think it would be good if there was an age limit.
Which age exactly?
I'm not sure about that, but 18 years sounds good, I think.
Because you're seen as adult by then.
I think the transfer-age of 18 is not helpful for Africa, because it doesn't match the reality down there.
It's a disadvantage for single players, that may have the potential to switch to another club,
but get prohibited to do it.
The protection of the young, is not adequate.
A 16-year-old young African football player is not a child anymore the way we see it in Europe.
Protection against people is always relative,
because protection may be a denial of a chance in this case and a player,
that transfers early can aliment a whole family through generations of time.
It's always a question of the perspective.
From another point of view maybe they deserve a chance,
so we have to be careful speaking of protection.
A universal age limit for the whole world is completely disconnected from reality.
Why is there no scouting on Germany's streets, like there used to be?
I think German street football is dead to be honest,
that's my personal opinion.
All the places where I played football in earlier days are abandoned nowadays
and the guys down there are real street football players, like we miss them here in Europe.
The first guy who went to my trial session was a young boy from Mali.
That was in Frankfurt, in January, so it was extremely cold.
I saw how he did his first walk through the woods in Germany.
It was very fascinating, because the player naturally wanted to carry it off well
and we had great difficulties to notice if he was in fact too cold or if something was missing,
because he didn't want to show off.
He had a good countenance all the time.
Actually it's more of a job to the young, the talented players in Africa, than to those in Europe,
because they carry another responsibility.
They feel not only hope, but they realize the investments of their families and extended families.
At the age of 14/15 they notice precisely,
that for them the only thing that matters is to become a professional.
That's the reason why the young players often play with less enthusiasm, at least it seems so,
because they suffer under another pressure and that partly really produces heartache.
We also notice that European clubs, more precisely German clubs struggle with Africa
because they try to apply their norm, which is nonsense.
But can't the football schools and training centers influence
how much time the guys have to spend in Africa?
There are a few academies, that give you kind of a list with facts
like the jumping heigth and running speed of the boy.
One time I went with that list to rapid Vienna and the trainer looked at it
and began to ask under which circumstances the boy jumped and under which circumstances he ran.
For me as a layman it seemed like they were doing professional work,
but the guy from rapid Vienna could just laugh at it.
If a family has a talented boy it could be the ticket out of poverty for the whole family,
maybe the whole kin, even the whole village
and this pressure lies heavily on the boys' shoulders.
But as always, there are real people behind every table, transfer lists and statistics.
Some of their fates are so horrible, that you almost wouldn't believe them
other players literally made it from rags to riches.
But the most thrilling stories offer a little from both extremes.
The best example for this is the rise of the German-African football player Ibrahim tanko.
With 16 years, he came from Africa to Germany
and then became the youngest bundesliga player of history at the age of 17.
Even until today, he remains youngest German football champion
the bundesliga has ever seen with the age of 17 years and 327 days.
That's when we became German champion too.
At that time, ottmar hitzfeld was the coach.
Then I have formed the so-called "baby storm" together with Lars ricken
we've also played our best six months then, when we became German football champions
after I think 30 years.
The so-called "baby storm" by Lars riecken and Ibrahim tanko
stomped the whole league.
He even was in the squad the following season
when the bvb took the champions-league title.
But his performance gradually went down season after season.
There may be many reasons for that
but according to Ibrahim himself, it was the pressure
to deliver the highest possible performance that heavily took it's toll on the underage African.
And this, even although the sport was more innocent at that time.
At our time, this wasn't the case. At our time we just played football.
However, in the middle of the 90s young players in the abroad had their own problems
without Internet, Skype or Facebook
they struggled to stay in touch with their families.
And even today the transfer of a young player to foreign countries thousands of kilometres away
is a heavy burden for them.
The young talents are taken away from their environment
and they have to deliver the highest possible performance under a different climate situation
a different culture and without the backing of their family and friends.
One does not simply go from Africa to Europe and immediately feels comfortable.
The culture is different.
I also remember, when I went there at the age of 16, I had to live with a foreign family
I didn't feel well with all these strange procedures.
It was very difficult to me.
Later on, I started to get used to it.
I actually think, that during that time there was a period
where enemies really overthought several times if they should take the risk
to give a young African player the chance to play,
but I think nowadays it's also a question of how a club treats this topic.
It's all about giving the African players someone at their side in the new culture
to help them going to administration institutions and to advance in terms of integration.
At that time, it was really difficult because there were no mobile phones, like today
or social media through which you could always establish contact
if we wanted to use the telephone, we had to make an appointment
then go to the office, to sit there and talk to our parents.
It wasn't as easy as today, where everyone could talk to everyone at the phone.
Exactly, our parents didn't have a telephone either at that time
where someone had a telephone and then make an appointment with me.
We had to make an appointment in Germany, too
so that we could go to the office and talk to our parents.
The sad ending of this story at the bvb
was the exclusion of the player because of the marijuana doping-scandal.
It happened almost like with the children that end up on the wrong path
because their parents don't really take care of them.
Only with the fact, that we are talking about a 19 year old professional here
who should've known better
but nevertheless happened to end up with the wrong people.
For the children's success it is extremely important
that they stay close to their family
the closer they are to their family, the higher are their chances of becoming professional player.
Of course, if you're there as a football player
then the guys come to you because they know that you've become a professional.
But in fact, they don't want to help you at all
they just want your money and to party with you.
Thank god I wasn't the kind of guy for that.
But when I made that mistake, I didn't argue with anybody
I said straight-away “yes, I did that”
I didn't knew that this was some sort of doping
as you said, I didn't really realize that
why should I dope to play football? Or if somebody smokes marijuana
how should it influence your performance then?
Not at all. It was a mistake, I've already said that back then.
Nothing of this matters to me today.
His lifelong friend and today u17 coach of the Ghana national team stands up for Ibrahim as well
I know him since he was a little boy.
He never went into those things.
I'm sure it is like you said, no parental control, no family.
So maybe he fell into some bad company and then that thing happened.
But I'm sure that thing belongs to the past.
That's right, because today, Ibrahim tanko is assistant coach of the national team
and prepares young players for the life in the sport and in the foreign
so that they won't have to repeat his mistakes.
But the most beautiful thing about that is, that he's found peace with his past.
Today, he is proud of his career and his 2nd home Germany.
Of course Germany is my second home.
My family and I, we all became German including getting German passports.
I enjoy being in Germany very much and I often travel there.
Like everywhere on the world, the career of a football player in Africa begins in the youth teams
from u17 on it gets really serious.
From then on the FIFA regularly holds world championships.
The results of these international competitions are of no importance to the media
although they are quite interesting.
The adult German nationalteam holds 4 world championship titles.
A fact that is commonly known.
And it's no secret, that Africa never reached a world championship finals.
But it's exactly the opposite at the world championship of the u-17 players.
African teams have won 7 times the world championship of the juniors.
And Germany didn't even win once.
An incredible result.
Why is there such a big chasm and what makes the africans so strong?
Coach Fabian, who's training the u17 from Ghana
can give us some answers on that.
Looking at that, the African and the south American players resemble.
I think it's something, that is inborn.
You know, in Europe, they teach boys how to play football.
But here it's something natural, it comes naturally.
At this level you got a whole lot of agents coming to talk sweet thing to the boys
by promising them everything.
Some of the players who come from very poor families, only see the money and do everything, they are told to.
They don't finish developing.
You know, you have to get your development to a certain level, before you can go to Europe.
It's not easy to go as a 16-year-old, 17-year-old boy to go to Europe and play on a top level.
But like I said, I think there should be laws to govern this kind of scouting.
You just can't come and scout a 15-year-old, or 14-year-old and take him to Europe.
They could scout and watch them here in the clubs.
And when the boys are 18, they can take them.
Coach Fabian's opinion is absolutely clear:
Young players should only be transferred out of their home after reaching their legal age.
But not everyone shares his opinion
because no matter, if it's the families that wish a career abroad for their kids
the clubs, the managers or the players themselves
for many within coach Fabian's team it's never too soon to go to the top clubs in Europe.
I try as much as possible to get my talents out of Ghana as soon as possible.
I can tell you for these two boys, I have had over 75 agents contacting me, wanting to sign with the boys.
Yartey is the manager of a couple of top talents in the u17 national team.
His pupils not only scored important goals at tournaments
but they were also awarded with trophies
such as man of the match or man of the tournament at the Africa cup.
These kids, most of the time also footballers of the second or the third generation
are the future of the African football
from my father's side, he has two brothers, they are both footballers.
One is playing in Dubai and one is playing in America.
So, I am the third one, I'm coming up.
I want to play in the highest level like playing in a team like real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester united.
Okay, do you know something?
I eat football, I drink football, I do football.
So, nothing else, only schooling.
Africa has a lot of talent, raw talent, very good talents.
And that is why, we are actually winning a lot of youth championships.
But when it comes to the world cup, the senior national team, we are not winning,
because we lack much facilities as compared to those of the developed countries, like Germany, France, england, us.
2007 Germany took the third place at the u17, Ghana was fourth.
Now the guy, that won the top-award, as in the best player of the tournament, Christopher macauley from Nigeria,
and then the second-best player was ransford osei of Ghana, and then the third was Toni kroos of Germany.
But now Toni is playing for real Madrid, he won the champions league, he won the world cup before,
but ransford osei is still in Ghana here, struggling to even get a team to play.
I am sorry to say this, but that is the fact.
It is because Toni kroos after the u17 was graduated into the u20 of the German national team
and he had better facilities at bayern Munich.
According to this opinion, it would be better for the players if they trained at hoffenheim
freiburg, dortmund or Munich as soon as possible. But why is the coach so strictly against that then?
That's what I was saying, that if we can have a policy that we can keep them here until they are 18, 19,
when they are old enough to sign a professional contract, it would be better for all of us.
They go outside and play, because they are paid well in their country.
If we could get companies to promote the guys here and pay them well,
we could keep most of the boys here, develop them well, before they go to Europe.
So, these agents -
I know some boys, some very good players, who were taken to Europe by some agents
and once they got to the airport, the guy went and they didn't see the guy again.
They had to sleep in the airport and were brought back.
When something like this happens to a child, all his dreams will be shuttered.
They cannot play football again.
So, as I said, if we are able to find a way to keep them here for some time,
untill they are old enough to make decisions, I think it would be better.
Unfortunately, this aren't singular cases.
Adolescents are adopted by strangers from Europe
conned off their parents' money
and worse
shipped to Europe illegally to sell them to the local clubs.
These schemes unfortunately overshadow the success stories, which of course exist
because taking an adolescent from the poverty
giving them the chance of a career in a premier club, including a salary of millions of Euros
is the big dream of any consultant and of any player, who lives here in Africa's poverty.
This dream came true many times, like in the case of Christian atsu.
He nowadays earns his money at new castle united.
He also escaped the poverty with his transfer, long before he reached the legal age.
I am the manager of Christian atsu, he played in my club cheetah fc.
When we got atsu before he got 18, we send him to Portugal, to fc porto.
From then on he continued to develop.
It all boils down to creating good policies and good laws that will protect our boys from these agents.
Most of the agents are not good, they only want the money.
I don't think, they only take andvantage of African players.
Asian and south-American, too.
There should be a universal law that takes care of it.
We know, how to play the game.
But we don't have the facilities like you.
As soon as we have these, we will beat you in the world cup.
But somehow Africa won a world title.
World cup winner France has a majority of African players.
Players of the first, second and third generation.
You need to mind not to think
that the people in Africa think differently from the people in Europe
it's totally understandable
given that some parents of French national player are born in Africa.
And because of that, it is normal that African people think
that the French player represent them indirectly.
I think that a few player come from Guinea.
Therefore I perceive it as normal that Guinean people are happy about the French victory.
When I had played in the national team, the guadeloupean people where really proud of me.
I think, it is the same if a player is from Brittany or the alsace.
Then the local resident are also pretty proud
the national team
often consists of poorer social states or rather that are the children
of the latest migration wave.
Nowadays many people wonder why so many with African roots are part of the national team
because there are so many black people in the team.
This is due to the fact that the last migration wave came from black Africa
and the French national team tells the story of those migration waves.
France had colonized many African countries.
That's why it's normal, if someone form a French speaking area emigrates to France
not only because of the extremely colourful population.
The world cup winner from France are all French people
no matter what skin colour or origin.
That shows us again that we not only live in a global world
but also that there are a lot possibilities for integration.
Is there a responsability towards his homecountry, his fathers father?
How do players of the first, second or third generation in Europe see it?
I know that my ancestors came from Africa
and got abducted to Guadeloupe so they could be turned into slaves
that was an incision in my family tree.
I know that and I think it is really important
that everybody knows their own family story.
For this reason I feel like an African.
Football has the power to legitimate
that we can respect each other
doesn't matter what skin colour and religion we have.
James kwesi appiah, coach of the national team in Ghana
believes to have recognized the signs of the time.
When we talked to him, he showed us his strong believe that the African football
can only be helped by training the players in their original environment.
The new coach has brought something totally different.
Now he says, if you are a local player and play very well, you play in the black stars, and so that's the ultimate.
You'd still get an opportunity here, to develop.
I think that, you know, first of all Ghanaian thought that: "Look, we've tried foreign coaches for so many years"
and it's like, always they come and you don't see much difference.
So, it was time to try.
Okay, let's give our own the chance and see what he can do.
So fortunately, I was able to qualify the team to the cup of nations and we got to the semi-finals.
I have two u17-teams.
The kids of both teams stay at my house.
Thats the best way to care for them.
You keep them with you, you give them food, clothes and you teach them how to play football.
Actually, you know, at the national team level, since I came, like two or three months ago,
I've created a data, where you can put all Ghanaians playing in Europe, America or wherever.
I try to put them on my data, so I can monitor all of them.
Time has come for change.
I wan't to be able to pursue every player of all age.
My plan is to strengthen football in Africa.
Therefore the database.
It is even for the upcoming trainers.
And of course as a good coach he has an answer
to the question why African players are such great talents.
And one thing, it's not only me but Ghanaians believe that, when it comes to talents,
Ghanaians are born with it in terms of football.
When a Ghanaian just kicks a ball, you see some skill in them.
In terms of child-transfers, coach appiah shares the same opinion as his counterpart
in the u17 trainer Fabian.
He wants to strengthen the national league and provide better conditions,
here in Africa, instead of selling the talents early on.
For many players the nationalteam is a kind of foreplay before the big,
international football clubs.
The young talents can present themselves here and show how good they are.
With the goal, to raise their going rate
and to recommend themselves for Europe.
One thing's for sure.
Every young player, who plays football here, is dreaming
to go to Europe and to play football there.
They should start joining these European clubs before they turn 18 to develop.
That is a handicap for them, the top talents.
They can only be transferred at the age of 18, that's too late.
Of couse there is also a problem with child trafficing,
that's also a thing. But the top-talents suffer from that,
and can't unfold their full potential.
That is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand the kids need to be protected
and on the other hand their talents need to be supported to the optimum.
Are more strict rules and prohibitions helping?
Are they a blessing for the children or rather a disadvantage in the worldwide competition?
You can't forbid something here.
Otherwise the parent come and say:
"Hey, we don't have anything here. No infrastructure, nothing.
What are the boys supposed to do? You can't forbid my boy to go somewhere."
Take for example the u17, which played recently.
They're now getting many offers from Europe for sure.
And as a club or an association you can't do an interdiction on that.
If you do, you'll get a problem with the parents.
If you take a look at the professional side
I think that there are in countries like France
structures which follow a really strict framework
in order to bring the young children up to a professional level.
What happens if child trafficking is forbidden furthermore?
If violations are punished harder?
And if the clubs are strictly prohibited to transfer kids under contract?
That's what we've asked sport journalist senyuiedzorm
who accompanied players around the world.
You know what these agents do?
They just go round the clubs and visit the parents.
As I already told you, 99% of the players don't come from an, you know what I mean, financially secured environment.
Don't the kids lose their fun at playing?
Yes, I think this gets lost on the way. Now it's all just about money.
A long time ago, you enjoyed playing football, even if there wasn't any money.
But nowadays this isn't the case. And why is that?
It's because the players, the young players watch the European clubs too,
they hear about who buys them and who sells them.
That is the reason why any player, if you ask them about their dream,
they'll immediately answer with earning money in Europe and helping the family.
The fun part of football has vanished and now everbody just cares about how they can profit from it.
When I played back then, we had nothing.
We only played out of passion.
I remember the times I was playing in the national team.
I was in the national team for 11 years and we didn't look after money.
We were only proud of being representatives of the nation.
I can remember, when I was playing football for kotoko, I had a team in Italy from Torino.
They came down and wanted me to go.
I said: "No no no, I'm happy I'm playing here, why do I need to go and travel out there?"
But time has changed and you know, we all need to move on.
400 players have a deal with euroclubs.
Many of them never left their homeland before, some not even their village.
How do these players feel when they're suddenly so far from their home?
That's Africa.
In Africa you don't get what you want.
I want to play in Barcelona or Madrid, because whenever I see messi or Ronaldo, I know that's my goal.
Just by talking about it, my legs go like this.
If you see this, you know I love football.
I went with the national team to Russia.
And from Russia I didn't went back to Ghana, so I travelled directly to Austria.
You know, the first day in Vienna wasn't easy for me, because I lived my whole life in Africa.
So this change was not easy.
On the first day I meet an old friend, which once was here in Africa.
He is a Nigerian player, he's called laren kayode, if you ever heard that name.
He's a really good player.
As I saw him, he said: "Oh my African brother is here".
He stayed always on my side, you know.
And we're always together and he showed me everything in Austria.
But I tell you something funny.
I was there and I've never seen so many white people before.
I was in Cologne on the carnival.
I went from the airport in Frankfurt straight to the carnival.
You can imagine that this was really funny.
Only many white people with fat stomachs, much beer and so on.
"Come have a drink, buddy!”
What is going on here?
It really was hilarious.
Suddenly I was in another country.
I knew, that I was in another country in Germany.
But I've never seen so many white people in my life,
so many fat people with fat stomachs.
But fun aside.
That wasn't easy.
When I went there, I had a whole week trouble eating.
You know, they gave me food, which I never eaten before.
It was not easy.
And also their system is not easy.
The coach always told me: "Mo, wait. Wait and you will be accustom to it."
Many African player have to reckon with many more prejudices
if they want to play in Europe.
One of the most fatal prejudice is, that they lie about their age
to provide themselves an unfair advantage over other junior teams.
Such an age question emerged for example in the case of youssoufa moukoko
in borussia dortmund.
His age was stated with 12 years.
But experts question it already.
Who believes this?
I always have to estimate the age.
But for me he is at least 16.
Why players cheat with their age is clear.
Performance advantages in the u-teams are a reason.
On the other side, some make themselves older so they can earlier transfer legally.
But many children don't do this on purpose.
In Africa there's a different handling with births.
And the celebration of birthdays isn't that usual as it is in Europe.
To lie about the age of the players is a systematic setback.
You have to pay for everything
even for a childbirth and many just don't have the money for that.
There are births at home as well.
Therefore you can't expect every childbirth to be reported of course.
The age of the African players, who I get to know there, isn't right normally.
The first thing is, if nothing else crosses your mind:
The u17 of Niger told the president that they just don't want to get mired in lies.
And they don't know what the birthday is and go for first of January.
Which is somehow honest again.
I also had played 2005 the u20 wm, Nigeria came there extremely far, reached the final.
Then against Argentina, against messi, then lost.
There were, I guess 9 from about something like 23 squad places first first.
There are basically two cases:
Either they assert to have an age and stay with that
and the players themselves don't care about that.
They don't say much, because everything's always about the club, the presidential, the trainer etc.
Or there are a few others that just say:
Make the boy as old as you want to,
I have experienced this too,
being on the pitch arguing about if the player should be 16/17 or 18 years old.
Passport controls alone aren't enough for the FIFA any more.
The age of players is tested with a carpus-test before the u17-world championship.
Countless players have since then be suspended,
because this test determines the age with a relatively high precision.
Since at least the case of Tony yeboah,
who admitted 2010 at our visit, that he made himself 2 years older then and owns 2 passports,
are doubts allowed.
What may be unproblematic for an aspiring amateur athlete
can mean the immediate end of a career in professional football.
Moukoko suffers from it.
That's not his fault. Even if his age wasn't right.
Our little gigi's passport also says he's born on the 1st of January.
This date alone evokes many discussions around the sceptics.
Another topic, about which the young players don't spend a thought in their training camps,
is another perspective.
What do the people think in their guest countries about the transfers?
What do German players and their fans of the local clubs
say about the African new entrants?
If you go down the leagues in Germany thank god you see,
that in the first and second league there is someone who surveilles a bit
and from time to time notices:
What are you doing there?
But the more you go down the leagues, the more it gets a relevant topic.
In general it's a difficult path, because so many people play football
and only a certain percentage can play in the second and third league.
It was hard for me of course and sadly I grew up with racism,
which was much worse back then, than now.
Also on the field people threw bananas on me and so on.
It was difficult yeah, but it coined me in a way and hardened me.
I made myself clear, that I'm in a different country.
So whatever happens, I don't let me get down.
Sometimes we went to places, where people would throw bananas or something like that after us.
Well I definitely think it has it's source in the fan-culture. Inside the clubs it's no issue.
When I was young, I didn't know what slaves were.
But I read about it.
What happens here is almost the same.
I honestly have to say that I was very lucky,
though I had to listen to a lot and I think that in the last one or two years the racism has grown again.
Yes, you know, in Europe racism is present.
But not everyone is a racist.
Sometimes you notice, how people talk or laugh at you.
That is because people weren't used to black africans who went to Europe before.
We weren't that much so you can tell how it is.
Also on the playground there's racism from time to time.
That's why FIFA and the federal division and also all media, that are resident in Germany
act out a zero-tolerance polity.
Most players from Africa can report about about unpleasant accusations.
These reach from misunderstandings up to defamations,
which full fill the elements of an offence.
Even prince opoku knows about an incident during an Europe -club game,
where the confrontation between cultural different players caused a unsportsmanlike combat.
Where the confrontation between cultural different players caused a unsportsmanlike combat.
That was the uefa-cup.
It was the first day, on which I got into something.
He was moving around and I chased him, I only wanted to frustrate him.
So I decided to step on his toe.
He felt the pain and said first: "Be careful, my friend"
and I answered: "I'm sorry".
Later I came again, stepped on him and he replied: "You black monkey!"
And I warned him: "I'm going to show you what a black ape can do."
So I started to kick him untill the referee came and gave me the yellow card.
From official aspects, there is a lot of energy and money dedicated
against the racism on the playground, but also especially between the fans.
Banner advertisement,
advertisement trailers
and fan campaigns fight against racism and prejudices.
But just like a lot of other things in our society, we're not even close to the end.
Staying together.
We have to change these things, because, I don't want to name this word, slaves.
Slave trade.
Yes, that is how it looks.
It is over, you don't use this word any more.
That how it was back then.
Now they don't want to use this word any more.
But as you can see, it is.
How is that possible?
The country had developed real good, I guess.
If I imagine how it was 20-30 years ago.
I also think it's really really great, if young Germans with a migration background, choose Germany.
Really really good, because it simply helps very very much.
I don't think, that players who come now, are scared of racism.
It's going to be blend anyway.
In 100 years it's going to be really hard to tell:
I'm pure Ghanaian or I'm a pure German.
In this respect this question won't be asked some day and if you're black or white and soon is...
I don't care!
But the thing that is just as serious in the world of professional football as racism is corruption.
Especially in African countries this problem seems to be more distinctive.
That counts of course not solely for football
but here it stands out again and again.
Players strikes,
stadiums which have been subsidized, but will never be build.
We had inquired worldwide interview partners about this topic,
but only got rejections.
Not only corruption lets the already approved funds from the FIFA,
the sponsors or from the country itself vanish again.
The African football club has a general financial problem.
That is immediately shown through the fields and training equipment,
behind the backdrop the problems range from the coaches salaries to the players salaries.
Here in Europe we have weekly salaries up to 250.000 euro.
Ghana shows another image.
You can see how the clubs suffer.
They pay a player 100 Euros a month for example.
Could you imagine this?
Maybe 100 Euros for a pro-player?
That is unbelievable for us.
But how should be acted against this condition?
The world isn't fair, isn't it?
One thing we small people can do is, at least to make sure rules exist.
Since we're talking about football, the government should make their part of the work
because the countries decided to join the FIFA.
I think FIFA, as a global lawgiver of the football, knows what's best compared to the government, regarding football.
Yes, FIFA should release a few good rules.
So that if they catch someone, like they did a few years ago with Barcelona,
clubs cannot make deals with players for two years.
Like athlético Madrid, which cannot make two year deals with players.
That can help.
They should care about such things.
As we can see, people who suffer under the corruption, can't agree on how to take action against it.
Whether the state or the FIFA should define and enforce the rules.
But one thing is sure, the actual situation is not longer manageable.
The players striked. We went to brasil one day later than planned because of money.
Said strike by ghanas national team in 2014 wasn't an isolated case
and showed how far the corruption problems had spread.
The media had discussed this incident accordingly detailed,
because the teams decision was like a last cry for help.
If not even the money from official approved funds reach the players,
you want to know what happens to this money and where it landed at the end.
I think the money goes to some few individuals and that is really sad.
That's also the bitter truth, that the players know:
"If we don't fight and take our money, it's over."
Yes, the money went into the wrong direction.
That is our problem, not only in Ghana, it's like that in Africa.
The leaders on the top know, why it doesn't flow on the ground to help the development of football.
The players know: If they don't take their money, then the officials take it.
Yes, the money is approved, given that, the players should have their portion.
If I had the opportunity to talk to the FIFA, I would probably offer them:
Let the clubs dispute directly with each other or let the parents represent the children,
if it comes to negotiations.
That would lead to the loss of a third instance, for example an agent
which shows up and enslaves the players and only uses them to make his own money.
This grievances can't be solved by football clubs or the FIFA.
But there are already some projects in Europe that link football to charity.
Education is important, the treaty can be made in english.
If you don't go to school, you cannot read.
So the first step is education.
The problem lies not within football,
but it's a problem in society.
The problem is,
that we're wealthy in Europe and in other countries they're not
and the others shall not come here.
Everybody wants to get their slice of the part and with football it's exactly the same.
I think it's fundamental, what the trainer said too,
to fight the causes and to achieve equal circumstances in other countries.
So they should take you out of those countries while you're young.
More should be done for the youth.
There are no leagues between the ages of 10 and 13.
There is no development because there is no money for that.
No team in Ghana, in general in Africa, can feed the young teams.
And boys who can't compare themselves, are not able to develop as in Europe.
The program of the right dream giveback is a program where the students,
as well as the former students invest in their home-villages,
where they build Wells and give them something back.
Of course there are lots of solutions out of the football sports and it's environment
that are supposed to help Africa.
Does Africa indeed need our help?
Yes, but not only to promote football players
but espacially dealing with equality and human rights.
I think that there is a lot to make good for especially by the FIFA,
that has a certain responsibility there and has to meet it.
I think exactly such projects,
that can mature to guides for self-aid are the best and can support the development,
so that football can do exactly that: Develop.
Innovative ideas and great advises from the rest of the world reach Africa in their thousands.
There are already billions of Euros,
that are invested into the black continent to fight the well-known local grievances.
But our little gigi doesn't notice nothing of it.
He has nothing.
Nothing but a dream.
The dream to free his mother, his sisters and himself from the incredible poverty.
In a country, where possibilities are scarce,
he has to brace himself against corruption, human trafficking
and thousands of other talented young boys, that also have nothing but football.
On our journey we were lucky to accompany him
and we hope that he and his country get a better future.
This travel to a foreign continent has given us deep insights in a foreign culture,
in other conventions and customs.
Football bounds people.
It should not only be seen as a means to cash up but first and foremost as a medium,
that without words, without speech can connect the whole world.
Sometimes everything you need is a ball and a smile to find new friends.
A world together is our big dream.