The Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Lydia Yaako Donkor, has warned that criminal networks are using false promises of overseas football contracts, international trials and scholarships to lure young Ghanaian athletes into human trafficking.
Donkor urged parents, coaches, football academies and sports administrators to verify claims about international sporting opportunities, saying the pursuit of a professional career must not leave young people open to exploitation.
“Sports must build dreams, not become a trap for human trafficking,” she said in a Facebook post.
She said she had delivered an address titled Addressing Human Trafficking in Sports in Ghana at a training programme supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
The programme was designed to improve officers’ ability to identify, investigate and prevent human trafficking, with particular attention to the sports sector.
Donkor warned stakeholders to be cautious when dealing with people or organisations offering foreign contracts, professional trials or educational scholarships. Offers that appear attractive, she said, could conceal serious risks.
“Promises of international contracts, scholarships, and professional opportunities must be carefully verified,” she stated.
“No young person should lose their freedom, dignity, or future while pursuing a sporting dream.”
The CID director said the department remained committed to intelligence-led investigations, victim protection and cooperation with sporting institutions and international partners to identify and dismantle trafficking networks.
She said sport should provide opportunity, discipline and national pride, rather than become a route through which vulnerable young people are exploited.
“Let us protect their dreams, safeguard their future, and ensure that no child becomes a victim of trafficking in the name of sports,” she added.
Wider concerns over recruitment in Ghana
The warning comes amid broader concerns about deceptive recruitment practices affecting Ghanaians seeking opportunities abroad.
The US Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report says Ghanaian nationals continue to face trafficking risks connected to fraudulent recruitment. Some victims, it said, have been subjected to forced labour and other forms of abuse overseas.
The report also describes deceptive recruitment as a continuing concern within Ghana’s wider migration landscape.
In April 2026, Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Iddie Adams raised similar concerns about exploitative recruitment schemes in sports. According to the Ghana News Agency, he said more than 30 per cent of aspiring Ghanaian athletes had been exposed to such schemes, while nearly 96 per cent had expressed a strong desire to play abroad.
The figures highlight the need for stronger safeguards around athlete recruitment, particularly for young people trying to establish professional careers in football and other sports.
Donkor’s warning underlines the importance of checking sporting offers properly and ensuring cooperation between law enforcement agencies, families and sports institutions.
Her central message was that sporting ambition should lead to legitimate opportunities, not deception, abuse or human trafficking.
