The missed departure created a legal quandary. Under Kenyan regulations, junior teams are prohibited from travelling at night. Once the transport delay pushed the departure time past the permitted window, the delegation could not legally travel back to Kenya that evening.

Without pre-arranged alternative accommodation, the children remained at the school overnight, lying on floors, chairs, and benches. The images circulated widely, amplified by prominent Kenyan sports journalists and supporters, and quickly raised questions about planning, safeguarding, and responsibility.

The U15 teams had departed Kenya after compressed preparation timelines, arriving in Uganda just hours before their opening fixtures after a grueling 13-hour road journey from Nairobi. Both delegations performed poorly. The boys endured a heavy 7-0 opening loss to host Uganda and were eliminated in the group stage, finishing third with three points. The girls similarly placed third in their group, collecting just two points from their matches.

How did this happen?

The events of December 10 were no mere logistical accident, but the inevitable result of inadequate contingency planning. Transport delays are operational realities in international youth sports. Under Kenya’s night travel prohibition, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) knew that delays risked leaving the teams stranded. Yet, they had no backup accommodation arranged.

Kenyan sports sadly have a long history of this.

The Football Kenya Federation issued a statement on December 11, confirming the transport delays and claiming that tournament organisers “CECAFA and St. Mary’s Kitende stepped in to support the teams, ensuring their safety, comfort and access to necessary facilities overnight.”

The federation also said it would “review internal processes” to prevent a recurrence.

Even with that clarification, several practical questions remain central to public scrutiny and require clear answers:

• Why was no contingency accommodation booked in advance, given that night-travel restrictions were known and transport delays are common in African regional sport?

• Where were accompanying Kenyan officials accommodated that night, and did they remain with the children throughout?

• Was CECAFA responsible for providing overnight accommodation, or did this remain FKF’s duty once the competition formally concluded?

Has this happened before?

Kenya’s U15 incident is not isolated. Kenyan sport has a troubling history of athlete neglect spanning the past decade, where poor planning and institutional dysfunction have repeatedly exposed athletes to unsafe or undignified conditions.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Kenya’s delegation achieved its best-ever Olympic performance with 13 medals: six gold, six silver, and one bronze.

After the Olympic Village closed, a significant portion of the Kenyan delegation remained in Rio for several days longer than expected, not in the village’s comfortable quarters, but in more marginal accommodation. Marathon runner and Team Kenya captain Wesley Korir publicly described being housed near a shantytown, where gunshots were heard overnight and athletes were instructed to stay indoors for safety. Korir documented the accommodation on social media, complaining that gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge had to secure his own ticket home, while others had been left behind.

Members of Kenya’s Olympic organising committee were allegedly sacked by the government with athletes still stranded in Rio days after the end of competition.

The fallout quickly travelled back with the team. Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, senior officials of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), were arrested for allegedly stealing funds and equipment intended for the Olympic athletes.

Amid the uproar, Kenya’s Sports Ministry under Hassan Wario dissolved NOCK and launched a formal probe into the organisation’s conduct in Rio.

Rabat 2019 African Games

But three years later, the same problem happened again at the African Games in Rabat, Morocco. In August 2019, as Kenya’s national athletics and women’s volleyball teams prepared for competition, they were abruptly evicted from their training camp hotel when the government failed to pay accommodation and meal bills.

The humiliation was compounded by deeper dysfunction: 11 additional athletes and five officials were simply removed at the last minute from Team Kenya’s delegation due to lack of funds, preventing them from competing altogether.

Gor Mahia FC in Morocco - 2019

This pattern has also affected club sides. In April 2019, Kenya’s most successful club side, Gor Mahia FC, flew to Morocco for a CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final against RS Berkane.

But on the day of travel, players and officials discovered at the airport that many of the team had no tickets booked and the club’s travel arrangements were incomplete, forcing them back home and leaving departure uncertain for more than 24 hours. Many had to make frantic efforts to secure alternative flights, including via stopovers in Europe or the Middle-East, instead of flying straight to Morocco.

On April 13, the squad flew from Nairobi to Doha, Qatar, and then to Marrakech, before travelling overland to Berkane. The squad was exhausted and had virtually no time to rest ahead of the match the next day. T

Similarly to the U15 incident, a number of players were reported to have rested on airport floors, while some officials were allegedly accommodated in hotels.

They lost the game in Berkane 5-1.

Is this only a Kenya problem?

While four athlete welfare failures in under a decade is highly concerning, the problem is not uniquely Kenyan.

In July 2025, 25 junior South African soccer players were stranded in Portugal after the BT Football Academy failed to purchase return flights from the Donosti Cup tournament in Spain. The academy cited visa processing delays that led to last-minute flight bookings at prohibitive costs. Many parents had to raise costly sums for their children to get home safely, asking for donations from friends and family.

In November 2024, Nigeria’s national football team was stranded for 16 hours in Libya’s airport during a CAF African Nations Championship qualifier with no food or water provided. The incident was so severe that CAF awarded Nigeria the match points and imposed a 50,000 USD fine on Libya, recognizing it as an extraordinary safeguarding breach.

These are just the latest incidents in a long line of similar crises.

But not much is done. Even after the latest scandal, the FKF has announced no safeguarding audit, investigation, or disciplinary measures specifically addressing the U15 incident. On December 15, 2025, FIFA even lifted a funding freeze on FKF, citing positive governance reforms and improved 2024 audit results. However, this decision was based on financial and governance improvements. Safeguarding was not taken into account.

With the 2027 WADA Code moving toward removing parental consent for doping tests on children, longstanding concerns about child rights, due process, and safeguarding have taken on new urgency.

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But we wanted to do more. Raising awareness wasn’t enough, most players, academies and clubs in Africa know this scam very well. So what did they need?

The problem is structural: When a vulnerable 17-year-old moves from an academy in West Africa to a low-tier club in Eastern Europe, no single governing body is going verify the legitimacy of the agent, the player’s age, the contract’s content, or the transfer’s actual financial flow.

If you wish to help Free 2 Play, join our Patreon for exclusive news on our human trafficking investigations, on how players are trafficked, and on our campaigns in Africa. Your support means more fact-checkers, more trainers on the ground, and more children being reached.

What is Free 2 Play?

After speaking with a lot of stakeholders, we designed Free 2 Play, a fact-checking service for football transfers.

This allows crime to thrive.

Free 2 Play offers a simple solution: a platform where academies, players, even their families can upload documents they receive. We’ll check whether they’re true or not within a week. Best of all, the service is completely free and utterly anonymous.

We check:

• Agents & Academies: We check whether agents or academies offering contracts or trials that seem too good to be true are real.

• Contract Cross-Referencing: We verify football contracts against red-flag criteria, such as excessive fees, non-existent salary minimums, or predatory clauses that coerce debt bondage.

• Risk Profiling: We go on the ground with clubs across Africa and Latin America to educate and inform.

Free 2 Play will not end human trafficking. There will always be players to be lured with promises of glory, and corrupt agents and clubs to lure them.

All five were members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior team, accused of sexually assaulting a woman after a Hockey Canada Foundation gala. Although they were declared not guilty in July, this has not quashed outrage from fans and even sponsors.

The Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes, rumored to be interested in two of the players, have already felt the heat. Vegas appeared to revoke a reporter’s credentials for asking about the case, while Hurricanes fans are threatening boycotts.

This brings up a topic that comes up again and again in American sports: how to reconcile a legal acquittal with a public that isn’t ready to forgive or forget.

Who are the Hockey Canada 5?

On June 18, 2018, Canada’s U20 World Juniors hockey…

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Under the stewardship of the Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport (AIMS), UTS hosts international multi-sports events and World Youth Festivals to promote tolerance, equality and non-discrimination for sport.

For example, in August in Colombia, UTS and the Special Olympics hosted the “No Barriers Cup” where 700 youth with and without disabilities from 10 municipalities competed in futsal, basketball, athletics, dance sports and more, side by side.

The Sports and Crime Briefing sat down with Govinden to discuss how UTS views integrity challenges across sport and what permanent changes are needed to fix them.

Sports and Crime Briefing (SCB): UTS works across a range of sporting and social environments, from high-level non-Olympic federations to grassroots programs in disadvantaged communities. How do the risks to integrity vary across these different spaces?

Julia Govinden (JG): The risks to integrity in sport differ greatly depending on the environment. At the elite level, particularly within well-funded, high-profile federations, we see issues like doping and match-fixing driven by pressure to perform and financial incentives.

Athletes from lower socio-economic backgrounds are generally less involved in doping. We assume this is mainly due to limited access to such substances and systems.

Match-fixing is more widespread and can surface at any level of sport.

In more disadvantaged communities, the risks to integrity tend to stem from weak institutional support and a lack of oversight. Here, we see challenges such as exclusion, exploitation, and missed opportunities due to limited access to education, healthcare, and economic mobility. Talent is often overlooked not because it doesn’t exist, but because the structures to nurture and protect it aren’t in place yet.

Organised sports also typically have stronger safeguards, clearer pathways, and a vested interest in maintaining a credible image. But even there, hidden forms of corruption can persist.

SCB: Athlete exploitation is one of the most pressing integrity challenges in youth sports. What role does UTS play in protecting them, and how do you collaborate with partners like Mission 89 and UNICEF on this issue?

JG: The lack of attention paid to human trafficking and safeguarding in sports is shocking. It happens that federations encounter suspicious instances but don’t report the incidents or know the protocol on how to deal with such a situation. Some try to deal with it internally. But without one designated person and clear accountability, this can fall under the radar and life continues as usual.

I empathise to some degree with federations, as they need guidance that currently just isn't there. They want to keep their athletes safe, but there is no external support.

From our partnership with Mission 89, we have learned from them what the dangers are, the red flags and what to do. Mission 89 is crucial with their access to interpol, the UN, FIFA and other high-profile officials.

We are now working together more closely to educate federations, give them a feeling of accountability for incidents that occur. We need to raise awareness during and outside sports events. We are currently working on a vital project that will bring the federations a much-needed level of care, support and protection for their young athletes. As we host large-scale youth events around the world, we have a unique platform to bring more attention to youth safety.

SCB: The issue of fake agents and human trafficking in sport seemed to get a lot of attention around 2010, but since then, few initiatives have been forthcoming. What do you think are the most urgent steps that need to be taken here?

JG: I have spoken to so many people over the years who didn't know that trafficking in sport included youth. They presumed it was only women. We need to create accountability mechanisms, we need to disseminate information across federations, officials, gyms and athletes. It’s a work in progress and always will be.

There is no end to this global issue, so our dedication must be unwavering. The pandemic saw the issue lose focus, with the news reporting less incidents due to a lack of global movement.

SCB: Gambling and match-fixing are often associated with elite professional sports, but are there similar risks even in non-Olympic competitions? Have you seen attempts to manipulate results in lower-level sports, or do you see betting syndicates targeting non-mainstream competitions in ways that surprise you?

JG: Betting at the grassroots level is a growing concern. While it’s often unregulated, if not illegal, it takes place through underground channels or online platforms that allow betting on smaller, lesser-known events. This creates significant integrity risks beyond illegal betting, including match-fixing, athlete manipulation, and exploitation, particularly among young or vulnerable players who may not have the same level of support or protection as the elite.

These betting syndicates are starting to target non-mainstream competitions, because oversight is weaker and safeguarding measures are limited or nonexistent. These environments become easy targets for manipulation, which not only undermines the integrity of sport but also places athletes in very vulnerable situations.

SCB: Your work at UTS brings together many stakeholders across sports federations, NGOs, the Olympic and Paralympic movement, and UN agencies. Have there been particular success stories where partnerships have led to measurable improvements in ethical standards?

JG: One of the most impactful examples of collaboration is our work with the sport of Muaythai. In partnership with Mission 89, UNESCO, the Royal Thai Government, and the International Federation of Muaythai Associations, we conducted comprehensive case studies examining youth trafficking risks within the sport.

This project resulted in concrete, actionable recommendations. The outcomes were presented by our President Stephan Fox at the United Nations in New York, highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement in addressing ethical challenges at the grassroots level. Last year, I was present to extend upon this initial engagement and share our findings, experiences and to request further support with strategies as to how we as a youth oriented community can progress.

SCB: Governance failures in sport often lead to integrity scandals at all levels. How can sport leaders be held more accountable for ethical breaches?

JG: One of the most effective ways to hold sport leaders accountable is to establish rigorous whistleblower protection policies. This would ensure that individuals, including athletes, coaches, and staff, feel safe to report unethical behavior without fear of retaliation.

Creating clear, confidential, and accessible reporting mechanisms is crucial for detecting and addressing misconduct. Protecting whistleblowers and sport organizations can encourage a culture of transparency and honesty, making it more difficult for unethical practices to go unnoticed.

Another tool would be Ethical Leadership Training. Sport leaders, from executives to coaches, should experience training that emphasizes the importance of integrity, transparency, and the long-term well-being of athletes.

Educating leaders about the potential consequences of unethical behavior, for individuals and the broader community can instill a strong ethical foundation that guides decision-making. Regular training and refreshers on governance and ethics should become a standard part of professional development for leaders at all levels.

Another important element is Athlete and Stakeholder Representation, ensuring that athletes and key stakeholders are actively involved in decision-making processes. When athletes have a voice and are given a platform to express concerns, there is a greater chance of identifying and addressing potential integrity issues before they escalate.

SCB: Integrity issues will always persist. What constitutes an effective integrity system, and what immediate actions can sports organizations take?

JG: A truly effective integrity system rests on three core pillars: competent leadership, institutional accountability, and a culture of zero tolerance for ethical breaches. Integrity issues might never fully disappear, but how effectively organizations address them makes the critical difference between systemic failure and resilient, values-driven governance.

Organizations must prioritize placing individuals in positions based on their expertise, ethical compass, and genuine passion for athlete well-being and fair play. Radical reform requires radical action, starting from the leadership down.

Additionally, accountability mechanisms need to be clear, enforced, and consistent. Integrity, safeguarding, and athlete protection can't be peripheral concerns. They require dedicated oversight from an independent integrity officer or commission that regularly reports directly to executive leadership. Implementing mandatory quarterly reporting helps maintain transparency and ensures integrity remains a visible priority.

A zero-tolerance approach toward ethical breaches must be clearly articulated and enforced across all levels, from Olympic committees to grassroots federations. National federations must adhere to the same standards, with tangible consequences for violations.