I wanted to spread awareness of a serious problem in modern football. The problem I am referring is the child trafficking that is endemic in modern football.

In short, what happens is scouts go to 3rd world countries and try to look for promising footballers. The problem is, when they find these kids they prey on the vulnerability of their families by enticing them with promises of a better life and escape from poverty. Of course, the agent/scout invests none of his own money into the child and convince the families to pay for the child to have a trial at a European football club. This is a sort of exploitation of dreams that most often ends in devestation.  The families invariable spend all that they have (in many cases they have to borrow money) to send the child along with a complete stranger to a country he's never seen. 

Of course, if the child isn't picked up by the club or (which is the great majority of cases) the scouts/agents simply cut their losses and leave without a trace. Hopefully, by now you can understand the gravity of where this leads. You have an army of any estimated 15k teenagers abandoned in a foreign land without the means to return home. And this is where we are.

Here is an interesting documentary on the issue that was released prior to the 2010 WC:

Link (can't put up non-youtube videos): http://vimeo.com/28319917

Bumping this up, because... I'm not sure anyone watched this... and you SHOULD. We're in transfer season so it is even more topical. Besides, it's not that long.

Was about to make an Arsene Wenger joke, I won't though :P.. Reminds me of Hoop Dreams.