Modern slavery in Football: The World Game and its global supply chain
With the much-anticipated return of the German Bundesliga this Saturday (16 May 2020), and English Premier League fans hoping for a June return of the season, it seems timely to take a look at ‘The World Game” and its world wide-supply chain through a modern slavery lens.
With over 4 billion fans across the globe, football has a huge transnational influence. The UK has over 5300 clubs in the men’s football league system alone, and the FIFA World Cup is one of the most viewed sports events in the world, with the 2018 Cup drawing 3.5 billion viewers, following closely behind the 3.6 billion people who tuned in to the 2016 Olympic Games.
With the heightened press surrounding these events, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association(FIFA), the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Football Association (FA), the governing body of football in the UK, haven’t been short of scandals in recent years. There have been many reports of corruption, trafficking and slavery in football supply chains, but many fans are adamant that those issues are in the past. With recent reports of forced labour and worker exploitation in the construction of 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums in Qatar, one has to question whether change is really happening, or if the same issues are still present, but perhaps better hidden?
The Premier League has expressed concern over a growing network of traffickers targeting young football hopefuls in what is being referred to as a ‘modern day slave trade’. It is estimated that over 15,000 children, primarily from West Africa, are trafficked each year with false promises of playing for top clubs in Europe and the UK. Scouts often target young men who aren’t up to the standard of professional leagues, and praise their abilities to fill them with false hope of making it through professional trials in Europe. Players and their families will then invest thousands of dollars to get their child to these trials, which generally do not exist. Children are often abandoned at airports once they arrive in Europe and ‘agents’ move on to another city to repeat the ruse over again. Football charity CFS estimates that agents can pocket between AUD$4,000 and AUD$12,500 for each child sent to these ‘trials’.
The international transfer of underage footballers is not only found in fraudulent schemes. One of the world’s most powerful football clubs, FC Barcelona, was discovered to be in breach of regulations on a number of occasions in 2015 for the trading of minors. In response, FIFA lowered its age limit for international player transfer from 12 to 10, requiring international transfer certificates (ITCs) for all players moved internationally. The move was an attempt to address trafficking in football leagues, but of the 2,716 applications for international transfer of minors made in 2018, only 393 were rejected.
With trading occurring at such a young age, it seems that clubs see players less as human beings, and more as a commodity for their own financial gain.
This mindset of workers being merely a cog in a profit-generating machine is also pervasive in manufacturing, and can be seen deeply rooted in the supply chains of major football organisations such as FIFA, the FA Premier League and the UEFA Champions league.
When investigating football supply chains, I discovered that information on the sourcing of balls and kits for these organisations is very limited. The only way I was able to determine where the Premier League Nike balls and the Champions League Adidas balls are sourced from, was by watching a video showing the new season gear and pausing at the right time to see ‘made in Vietnam’ and ‘made in Pakistan’ in tiny writing on the balls.
FIFA world cup balls were easier to trace, with the Pakistani manufacturer that produced the 2018 Rio Telstar 18 ball, Forward Sports, making information publicly available on its website. The manufacturer is located in Sialkot, Pakistan, a city which produces over 75% of the world’s footballs. According to my reading, Forward Sports is doing some great work, as highlighted in a 2014 Reuters article entitled “Pakistan ball maker to fulfil World Cup dream”. The article follows the journey of Forward Sport’s owner Khawaja Akhtar as he becomes the first Pakistani manufacturer to produce the World Cup ball. Reuters outline positive worker initiatives and factory culture, stating that women stitching balls “flaunt bright sandals with imitation jewels and wear robes the colour of tropical birds”.
I for one am less drawn to the imitation jewels and more to the open footwear on a factory floor.
Forward Sports does have several HSE and HR policies as well as employee development and community initiatives, and appears to be a leader in worker rights in Sialkot. However, a 2014 Sydney Morning Herald article highlighted that workers are only paid around AU$182/month. A world cup replica ball costs AU$172 retail, and according to the Forward Sports LinkedIn page, the factory produces over 35,000 hand stitched balls per day.
Although this pay rate is above minimum wage in Sialkot, one has to ask whether Nike and Adidas who are among the companies sourcing from Forward Sports, believe that a single football is worth as much as a month’s labour from a Pakistani worker.
The exploitation of workers in FIFA supply chains has been exposed recently, with reports of modern slavery in the construction of 2022 Qatar World Cup Stadiums. Violations include passport retention, overcrowded and subpar accommodation, and extended work hours in dangerous conditions. The latest figures reveal nine worker deaths in 2019, and 34 since construction began. Of the 2019 deaths, four workers were deemed to have died of ‘natural causes’ and three were killed in a bus accident. There were allegedly no deaths caused by workplace accidents, however Qatari authorities rarely conduct post-mortems on migrant workers, with laws prohibiting examinations unless a crime may have been committed.
A Guardian investigation revealed that workers are being exposed to ‘heat stress’, forced to work up to 10 hours a day in 45°C heat, which cardiologists believe is the reason many young men are dying in their sleep. Although these deaths are from ‘natural causes’, “working in high temperatures puts a huge strain on the human cardiovascular system, with extreme heat stress leading to fatal heart attacks and other cardiovascular fatalities”
A 2017 film, The Worker’s Cup, shows life inside the ‘prison-like’ labour camps in Qatar, and the 1.6 million migrant workers, some of the world’s poorest people, “working the lowest level jobs to ensure the World Cup can be hosted in the world’s richest country”. The Worker’s Cup is a football tournament allowing workers to be the first to play in new stadiums, but many deem this competition to be a distraction from the terrible conditions workers are facing on the job.
So how are FIFA and other leagues combatting modern slavery and exploitation in their supply chains?
The 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act requires all companies with revenue over $100 million to release a Modern Slavery statement outlining the work they are doing.
The Premier League Statement expresses that “[premier league] supply chains consist primarily of service providers whose employees have qualifications and skills that are unlikely to be exploited through forced labour”, however over 30% of the products and services listed in the Statement would be considered high risk for modern slavery. These include catering, couriers, food and beverages, ICT hardware, recruitment, security and office supplies. The sourcing of football equipment is not mentioned. The statement outlines a “zero tolerance approach” to modern slavery, but provides little transparency on the League’s supply chain. While there is clearly an intent to identify risks, the statement provides little information on how this is undertaken and verified.
UEFA, the governing body of European Football Association, highlights on its website that “football can promote the respect of human rights, but it can also amplify abuse and discrimination”. The website states that UEFA takes steps to ensure human rights risks are mitigated and standards are “upheld” across operations, however there is no information of how this is achieved. The 2017/18 UEFA Football and Social Responsibility report does not mention modern slavery, forced labour or exploitation.
A search of the official FIFA website reveals no Modern Slavery Statement. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Sustainability Strategy mentions modern slavery and outlines specific labour risks, but does little to identify how risks are being addressed.
FIFA, UEFA, FA and other football bodies need to be more proactive in their efforts to combat modern slavery, and must use their geat influence to encourage other organisations to do the same. As an avid football fan and player, I would hope this great sport can lead the way in preventing future human rights abuses. As Eduardo Geleano wrote after the 1994 World Cup, “there is absolutely no question that the world turns around a spinning ball”. Here’s hoping the ‘goal of the tournament’ at the 2022 World Cup is the eradication of modern slavery.