The pitfalls of a football career in Cambodia

Prek Pra’s Dennis Nwaizu (left) and Chhma Khmao’s Mom Davy vie for the ball during their match Wednesday. (Photo: Phnom Penh Post)

Radio Australia

Updated May 24, 2010

The sudden death of a Nigerian soccer player during a game in Phnom Penh earlier this month has raised questions about foreign players who migrate to Cambodia in the hope of securing a football contract. Mostly Nigerian, they arrive with expectations of big money and the chance to be drafted into the more prestigious leagues in neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. But for many, what they find is disappointment and hardship.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Maxwell Woko, Nigerian soccer player; Ken Gadaffi, president of the Nigerian Community Association; Andy Brouwer, sports reporter for the Phnom Penh Post; May Tola, deputy general secretary at the Cambodian Football Federation

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COCHRANE: As the day's heat cools into evening at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium, dozens of small soccer matches take place in the carpark outside the ground. But one is different - all the players here are African.

They wear bright yellow and red shirts and play a fast-paced game of 5-on-5.

They call this corner of gravel San Siro after the stadium A.C Milan play at. They say it's a place for strong macho players, but actually this is where the players who can't find a team in the Cambodian league come to play each night.

Amidst the dust there is frustration and disappointment.

MAXWELL WOKO: My name is Maxwell Woko from Nigeria, so I came to Cambodia, that was last year 2009, February 14th, so I came to this place with my manager. He brought me here and I only spend two weeks in this place, then after the two weeks, he would take me out from this country. So at the end of the day, I found myself in a critical condition. All what he told me did not not fulfil the promis.

COCHRANE: That promise has been made to dozens of African footballers, mostly from Nigeria.

Ken Gadaffi is president of the Nigerian Community Association.

KEN GADAFFI: Football is a passion in Africa and so much of them leave the continent, going to Asia, to Europe, with the hope of securing sort of greener pastures. So I think their motivation is born from the fact that they come to Cambodia, hoping to tie up lucrative deals.

COCHRANE: But lucrative deals simple don't exist. The best any player in Cambodia can hope for is a contract with one of the 10 premier league clubs� receiving accommodation, food and a few hundred dollars a month. The league limits the number of foreign players each club is allowed, leaving around 100 African players vying for just 30 positions. For Maxwell Woko, the search for a contract soon turned sour, when his manager abandoned him.

MAXWELL WOKO: When he took money from me at the airport, then he would take you to hotel, then dump you at the hotel.

COCHRANE: It sounds almost like trafficking in footballers?

MAXWELL WOKO: Yeah, yeah, just like trafficking.

COCHRANE: Andy Brouwer is a football journalist for the Phnom Penh Post.

He says that while the African players come to Cambodia seeking fame and fortune, they've helped boost the standard of the game.

ANDY BROUWER: They just have more experience, they are more physically strong and they usually form the spine of any of teams they play for, so we're talking central defender, central midfield, central striker and so they have a big influence on the games.

COCHRANE: Some foreign players are so desperate to get onto the pitch, they play for free.

That was the situation for 25-year old Wilson Mene, playing without a contract for Prek Pra Keila.

In early May, 25 minutes into a match, Wilson Mene collapsed on the pitch and could not be revived - killed by a suspected heart attack.

Some, like Ken Gadaffi, believe poor living conditions contributed to his death.

KEN GADAFFI: There are questions to how has been feeding, has he been receiving the right nutrition to withstand the rigours of playing on such intense condition.

COCHRANE: Wilson Mene's death has forced the Cambodian Football Federation to review its rules for foreign players.

May Tola is deputy General Secretary of the Federation.

MAY TOLA: Next time or may be next year we will be more firm on the contract, make sure that the club treat the player fairly.

COCHRANE: However, football reporter Andy Brouwer believes that the hardships faced by African players are no different to those faced by Cambodian footballers.

ANDY BROUWER: I get a little annoyed when I hear that the African players say that they are treated badly, but to be perfectly honest with you, as far as I am concerned they are treated exactly the same as the Cambodians.

COCRHANE: Back on the gravel track outside Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Maxwell Woko is still angry at the agent, Robinson Oyebo, who brought him to Cambodia.

He says the agent is now back in Nigeria, possibly bringing more footballers to Cambodia.

Maxwell Woko says they should think twice.

MAXWELL WOKO: I have to advise them that they should not make any movement to come to Cambodia.

COCHRANE: With no money for a plane ticket home, 25-year old Maxwell Woko, sees just one path ahead.

MAXWELL WOKO: I'm sticking ahead with my career, my football career.