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| Tunisian Football Club Suspends Activities After 32 Players Illegally Migrate To Europe |
| 2023-04-12 |
| [SAHARAREPORTERS] A Tunisian football club has suspended activities after 32 of its players illegally emigrated to Europe. The fourth-division Ghardimaou club's president Jamil Meftahi blamed "clandestine emigration". "We've halted activities and suspended our matches," Meftahi told AFP on Tuesday. Over the past three years, 32 of the club's players have emigrated to Europe, he said. Tunisia is in the grip of a long, worsening economic crisis that has pushed many of its citizens to take desperate measures in search of better lives abroad. According to Meftahi, Ghardimaou players, aged between 17 and 22, "either left by sea or went via Serbia then illegally crossed the border into other countries". Until last November, Tunisians were able to travel to Serbia without a visa, giving thousands of people an alternative to potentially deadly boat crossings in the Central Mediterranean, the world's deadliest migration route. Those heading for the exit have disproportionately come from marginalised areas such as Ghardimaou, an inland rural district near the Algerian border but far from Tunisia's coastal economic hubs. Meftahi blamed players' "lack of financial means" for their departures. "We can't afford equipment, shirts or shoes, and the players aren't being paid," he said. Parts of the Tunisian coast are within 90 miles (150 kilometres) of the Italian island of Lampedusa, and thousands of people — Tunisians and citizens of sub-Saharan African countries — alike have attempted the crossing already this year. |
| Posted by:Fred |