The horror stories of cynical people exploiting the dreams of the poor, especially in Africa contributed to football’s governing body trying to protect vulnerable children, especially in the oldest continent. FIFA’s Article 13 says that young players cannot leave their country until they turn eighteen, unless their family moves too.

Claude le Roy wants to make sure that they are protected and sees providing them with education as vital. “The new, new racism with this new sort of slave approach that you meet everywhere must stop for all the kids of Africa – all over Africa,” he told us exclusively. “You can’t take them without education. He doesn’t know where he is going. He doesn’t know with who he is going. So many young players disappear like that and they disappear for nothing. All these players are lost.”

The best young players needn’t worry as they will be snapped up by the top clubs that will pay to move their family if necessary and provide work for them sas well. It is a small price compared to inflated transfer fees once they have proved that raw talent has developed into the finished article However, there is a more worrying trend. Where African players used shed years from their true ages to make themselves more attractive commodities to European clubs, now the opposite is true.

Boys add years so they can leave earlier. They are even more vulnerable to exploitation or worse by cynical dream-stealers. They have to be persuaded to stay in Africa and develop there, but that will not happen if African football infrastructures aren’t developed. Le Roy thinks that the solution is in Africa itself and that FIFA is part of it. “FIFA gives a lot of help to Africa to build professionalism with such a lot of good things for African football,” he says.

He then outlined his vision and solution to protect Africa’s youth exclusively for us. “The best of them can always go to play in Europe or in South America,” says le Roy. “Most of them will be happy to stay in Africa because for young kids it’s always better to live in Africa with a normal job than in a boutique or a restaurant, or to wash plates or glasses with no contract. You can give them everything here in Africa. I think the next step – the target of FIFA – is to create a real professionalism in Africa.” This includes developing leagues and infrastructures and academies – ones that cater for the social needs of African youth.

Blake’s Warning:

Noel Blake is concerned at what academies will offer to boys in Africa, especially for those that don’t make it. “You’ve got to remember that clubs are private entities – private businesses,” he says. “If they choose to go and do that, that’s the club’s prerogative. Clubs have invested in scouting systems in Brasil and have links with clubs in China, Cameroun and Senegal. It’s been going on for a while. Yes it can put some funding in social development into those countries and those boys. I don’t have a problem with that; it’s fine, but it’s long term. The players that develop in that country – are they going to benefit that country long-term? I’m not so sure.”

So what are his doubts? “I can understand the point in terms of helping those local boys to develop,” Blake told us exclusively. “That’s great and I endorse that one hundred percent, but there’s a by-product from it, which is something that people don’t look into. Make something of those boys when they come abroad – that’s the be all and end all. It’s a collateral thing. They want to sell those boys on, so if you can, develop those boys and they stay at home.”

Blake’s concerns are for the boys that don’t make it. “What happens if they are not good enough any more, when they don’t become a commodity?” he asks. “I’ve seen that happen quite a lot where people put money into the system. They can’t become a saleable asset; they’re discarded. I’ve seen that in the Caribbean, in Africa and the Far East. I’ve seen it happen, so I know the point you’re trying to make, but it needs to be looked into a great big way rather than just the end product.”

Quite right, the test of a good academy isn’t just the number of quality players it produces; it is what it does for boys that don’t make it and what it provides for them to cope. Feyenoord’s academy at Gomoa Fetteh is far more than just a preparation ground for African talent – it is a social project – an example of the type of academy that Africa desperately needs.