ESPN probe alleges abuse and neglect in Argentina's youth soccer pipeline
An ESPN investigation says young players in Argentina’s soccer system have faced grooming, hunger, neglect and unregulated dorm conditions.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
A house near a Buenos Aires soccer stadium held three dozen boys and young men, some as young as 12, when authorities raided it after a neighbor reported children living in “inhumane conditions,” according to an ESPN investigation into Argentina’s youth soccer pipeline.
The one-story home on Gallardo Street was run by a landlord known as El Zurdo, ESPN reported. Inspectors, police, social workers, psychologists and medics found newspaper over the windows and boys living there without the permits authorities requested, according to the report.
El Zurdo told police he had guardianship documents for all of the boys, ESPN reported. The outlet said a city investigative document later ordered the home’s eviction within 10 days, but reporter Steve Fainaru found children still there during a visit two years later.
ESPN said its investigation was based on more than 100 interviews, thousands of documents and visits to a dozen pensiones, the dormitories used to house young soccer prospects. The outlet reported that thousands of children in Argentina’s development system are unpaid, separated from families and placed in housing that can be poorly regulated.
Sex abuse case exposed wider risks
The investigation traces a major public reckoning to 2018, when Independiente, one of Argentina’s biggest clubs, disclosed that several men had sexually assaulted young prospects living in its pensión, according to ESPN.
María Soledad Garibaldi, the prosecutor who led the case, interviewed about 50 boys connected to Independiente, ESPN reported. She found that nearly all had been groomed through social media and that more than a dozen had been sexually abused.
Garibaldi later expanded her inquiry to seven other teams and interviewed about 300 prospects, according to ESPN. She told the outlet investigators concluded that around 60% of the boys had been contacted at some point, though she said that did not mean all had been sexually assaulted.
Five men eventually pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in the Independiente case, ESPN reported. A youth referee who went to trial argued that the victims had consented, but judges convicted him and described the young players as extremely vulnerable, according to the report.
Julio Conte Grand, the attorney general for Buenos Aires province, told ESPN that soccer’s power in Argentina makes scrutiny difficult, calling the sport sacred in the country.
Families chasing a narrow shot
ESPN also detailed the case of Tobías Pérez, a player from Vedia, about 200 miles west of Buenos Aires. He received his first offer to train with a professional club at age 8, but his mother rejected the idea of sending him away to live with strangers, according to the report.
At 15, Tobías signed with Ferro Carril Oeste, a club in Argentina’s second tier, ESPN reported. His deal tied him to the club, but he would not be paid unless he reached the professional roster.
Ferro had its own dormitory under the stadium bleachers, but ESPN reported that it was reserved for only about a dozen prospects. Tobías, like roughly 200 other boys under contract with the club, had to find and pay for his own housing and food, according to the investigation.
The club directed him to a cheaper outside pensión about 30 minutes away by bus, ESPN reported. For families like his, the outlet said, the decision is part of a familiar gamble in Argentina: sending a child into the soccer system for a remote chance at a professional career and a better life.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.