Original version

BBC World Service Online

World Football

Sport: Football

Original football stories and interviews from around the globe

Original football stories and interviews from around the globe.

World Football: Child Footballers! The Search for the Next Messi

Sport

Barcelona fans show banner which says “Keep your hand off our youth academy”, Credit: Getty Images

11/04/2014

Child Footballers! The Search for the Next Messi

BBC World Service - World Football, Child Footballers! The Search for the Next Messi

Are Europe's biggest clubs guilty of exploiting footballers as young as five years old?

Are Europe's biggest clubs exploiting footballers as young as five or six years old in the search for the next big thing?

Are Europe's biggest clubs exploiting children as young as five or six years old, in the search for the next big thing? Barcelona received a ban from FIFA for illegally recruiting under-age children from overseas. 
The former Dutch international Aron Winter discusses why his country are so often the nearly-men at the World Cup. And hear the remarkable story of how football saved a young goalkeeper's life during the genocide in Rwanda. 

Picture: Barcelona fans show a banner which says La Masia No Es Toca ie 'Keep your hands off our youth academy'. Credit: Getty Images

Accessibility links

Programme Index

World Football

Child Footballers! The Search for the Next Messi

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service