Chelsea made all the headlines this month following Fifa’s decision to ban all transfer activity for two transfer windows for illegally inducing a young French player to join their ranks in 2007. Gaël Kakuta is the player in the midst of the storm following Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) concluding upon a breach of contract with former club Lens. Consequently, Chelsea were deemed “jointly and severally liable” resulting in sanctions of a cash settlement to Lens accompanying the transfer ban.

François Collado, now retired general manager of Lens met with both Peter Kenyon and youth development director Frank Arnesen in London 2007 to discuss terms for the player. However, neither side could agree upon a suitable fee. Kakuta had been with Lens since the age of nine, having agreed a pre-contract agreement at fourteen to sign professionally for the club at seventeen, the first opportunity to do so within French employment laws. According to Collado: “the contract was rubber-stamped by the French league and French football federation." Collado went on to warn Chelsea they faced sanctions from Fifa as a result.

Peter Kenyon, the former chief executive of Chelsea claimed that despite signing Kakuta at the age of sixteen it was not ‘child trafficking’. "It was something that happened two years ago that was in no way child trafficking. I think you’ve also got to distinguish between the issues."

Nevertheless, child trafficking remains a major issue in world football. Inside Western Africa, the sheer success and popularity of Western African players in Europe means in nations like Ghana and the Ivory Coast academies are opening without licences. This despite the Confederation of African Football insisting academies must register with local governments or the football association. The sheer financial rewards of becoming a professional footballer outweigh the benefits of full time education, some families have even sold their homes in the hope their children make the grade.

Often sadly, many of these academies operate without licensed coaches or the necessary facilities. Inside Ghana’s capital Accra, estimates last year put the figure of illegal football academies at over 500. Children as young as seven are bought by middlemen on long-term pre-contracts, essentially buying the player from their families and in some examples openly extorting families by taking jewellery and the deeds on houses to cover their costs in the hope of discovering the next Didier Drogba or Michael Essien. 

Scouts from all over Europe are frequent visitors hoping to spot the next diamond in the rough. For many young Western Africans the dream is to move to France to have trials with some of their biggest clubs. Nonetheless, with so many academies operating illegally safe passage to France legally is out of the question leaving many to take the more dangerous boat journey from the west coast along the Canary Islands.

Culture Foot Solidaire, established by the former Cameroon international Jean-Claude Mbvoumin, helps work with children; including those as young as eleven often victimised “by clubs from the very start.” With issues of poaching young players happening all over Europe it can be hard to sympathise with the French football clubs are hugely culpable in this trade.

Mbvoumin stated to the Independent that: "There are clubs in France who talk about ethics and who like to think of themselves as occupying the moral high ground but, in our experience, not one is above reproach. In fact, the higher up the leagues you go, the worse the problem. At the top level, make no mistake, the problem is one of trafficking young people. And they're getting younger."

Accusations of Anglophobia towards Fifa are unfounded; the punishment handed to Chelsea is consistent with other clubs found in breach of the rules. Philippe Mexes the French international faced a ban of six weeks for breach of contract over his disputed transfer to AS Roma in 2005. Roma were found guilty for the “inducement to breach of contract,” as Mexes had agreed a contract with Roma without the consent of his former club Auxerre. On appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Roma’s original transfer ban changed to a single transfer window ban.  Similarly, FC Sion from Switzerland received a ban in April for the transfer of goalkeeper of Essam El Hadary from Al-Ahly. On appeal the ban was frozen pending a future decision.

Chelsea plan to appeal their ban and if successful they could see a reduction similar to Roma. Whilst the story will continue to rumble on for months now and the repercussions felt across the world of football.  In any event, the ban on Chelsea is no vendetta by Fifa to target English clubs but merely the enforcement of the rules, Chelsea appear to have broken the rule on player transfers.  Article 17, paragraph 4 states: “It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that any club signing a professional who has terminated his contract without just cause has induced that professional to commit a breach.” It remains to be seen if Chelsea can prove their innocence but until such a time they are deserving of the punishment that fits the crime.