Thai

Abstract

In Africa, concerns were raised that there are increasing number of human traffickers that exploited Africa that is a continent with abundant of adolescents wanting to become a footballer by giving them false hope of becoming one, and tricking them into a human trafficking ring. Question arises, why do so many African adolescents want to be a professional footballer? There is a collective understanding that footballers earn a lot and African is generally an impoverish continent, but there are many occupations as well that is financially as rewarding. A deeper look through the lenses of the young Africans is required to understand this phenomenon more profoundly.  

This study intended to answer the question of what motivated African adolescents to become a professional footballer. Findings show that globalization which merges the proliferation of professional football and the everyday lives of Africans leads African adolescents into believing in the myth that pursuing football career is a credible way to achieve great wealth, which further fuels the gender role of the African society that a man is expected to be the breadwinner of the house, and wealth is a symbol of manliness. Meanwhile achieving wealth through formal education is becoming less preferable as there are many structural dysfunctions of the education systems that leads to massive unemployment in many parts of Africa. As a result, many African adolescents abandon formal education system and decide to pursue the career of professional footballer instead. This leads to a vulnerability that the human traffickers could exploit.