Trainee soccer players at Argentinian giants Independiente were coaxed into underage prostitution with offers of soccer shoes or even just underwear, a Buenos Aires public prosecutor said.
The shocking revelation of an illicit sex network operated at one of Argentina’s most prestigious and successful clubs was made after a 17-year-old told an Independiente psychologist that he had been encouraged, alongside another 19-year-old player, to prostitute himself to adult men in a trendy Buenos Aires neighborhood, local media said.
Public prosecutor Maria Soledad Garibaldi has asked to meet all 50-plus boys aged between 13 and 19 housed at a boarding facility operated by the club in the Avellaneda suburb of the sprawling Argentine capital.
“Of the five boys that I spoke with [on Monday], three gave me some information,” the local media quoted Garibaldi as saying.
“One of them told me that it didn’t happen, but that they had been approached. The children knew something was going on,” Garibaldi said. “They’ve allowed me to reveal that they were offered to do it for a pair of shoes or underwear.”
Football referee Martin Bustos and his lawyer have been arrested over the scandal, which was brought to the judicial authorities’ attention by Independiente club bosses.
Bustos’ lawyer is suspected of having destroyed a mobile phone to hide evidence.
There might also be similar underage prostitution networks operated at other clubs, Garibaldi said.
“Unfortunately, that doesn’t surprise me,” Independiente coach Ariel Holan said. “It’s something that’s hidden and it’s a problem in society, like drugs, alcohol and human trafficking.”
“It’s not an issue that’s confined to sports or to Independiente,” he added.
Andres Bonicalzi, a lawyer for a rape victims charity, said young players from the vast interior of the country — well away from Buenos Aires on the western shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary — who are far from their families, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
“They see the club as a role model, they see it as a father figure. They’re far away from their own fathers,” said Bonicalzi.
“[The perpetrators] have exploited their immaturity and these children’s need to belong to something,” he added.
Independiente are the fourth most successful team in Argentine history with 16 national titles.
Part of a multidiscipline sports organization, Independiente have a host of teams throughout the youth ranks, as well as a soccer academy and an education center for children throughout their compulsory schooling period.
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