“The child can play from today.” The boy, a Malian who has just turned 12, is an open fan of Vinicius Jr., who has been training at a club in a neighborhood in La Laguna for months but despairs at the sight of it every week. could not join the games because his file had to be accepted by FIFA and it never came.
Until today. FIFA accepted the file that Süleyman needed to play with his team and gave instructions for the correct application of the rule. humanitarian exception to other minors in the same situation arriving by boat.
The entity confirmed this decision to Judge Reyes Martel, Juvenile Judge of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, who convinced him in November 2022. change your regulations on international transfers Minors to adapt to the singularity of helpless children under the auspices of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Andalucía Junta, the Catalonia Generalitat or the Community of Madrid and other administrations.
“Gentlemen football I’m an 11 year old boy who wants to play. I’ve been training for about two years and I’m working hard to be able to play with my teammates soon. They want me to play, too, and they ask when I can play.”
“I don’t understand why they let them play and not me. The only difference between them and me is that I’m black and I was born in Africa.. That’s the least important thing, but in this case it’s not,” he complained.
This child’s situation is not isolated. Educators from centers for children in the Canary Islands and Andalusia confirmed to EFE that children in their care also suffer from the same problem, and Iratxe Serrano, director general of the islands Child Protection, said: they are trying to unlock lots of cases.
Everyone has the same problem: FIFA applies the regulations it accepted years ago to them. prevent child abusewhen he found that numerous European clubs had started signing promising youngsters in Africa, Latin America and Asia, and there were unbearable cases where some children were left to their fate after failing to convince the teams that brought them to Europe.
Last November, FIFA adopted an amendment at Spain’s request. Regulations Regarding the Status and Transfers of Players extended the already existing “humanitarian” exemption for refugees to include children “who are considered vulnerable and need State protection” unless the club registering them holds professional status.
However, since then most applications for registration by such clubs to their headquarters in Zurich have been denied. The problem, now resolved, seemed to be how to interpret the status of being “State-protected” children from Switzerland, since in Spain the powers on this issue belong to the autonomies, the regional governments. Regarding custody of a child declared helpless, whether Spanish or foreign, they are the “State”.
There were also problems when world football’s highest governing body requested a letter from parents explaining the reasons for their “transfer to Spain”, they were unable to send a letter because they don’t meet men, but they’re still in Africa, and in some cases, they don’t even have a location. Now the child himself will be encouraged to write a simple explanatory letter.
“I can not believe this! I’m about to cry“, Souleymane’s stepmother, Elena Cotarelo, admitted to EFE, who decided to make the boy’s desperate letter public because she no longer knew who to turn to and thought that with this step could not only help her, but also make it visible. The problem that is causing suffering for many underage children who find that beyond their very ability they find a channel to integrate into the new society that embraces them.