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Four hundred enthusiastic Ghanaian footballers seeking to ply their trade in Europe have been swindled of GH�22,000 by an Accra-based sham Football and Travel and Tours Agency-Soccerkick. The unregistered agency, according to the Times newspaper investigations, collected GH�50 from each of the affected players as participation fees to enable them to take part in a �justify-your-inclusion� exercise in Ghana after which those who distinguished themselves would be sent to join clubs in Europe. An additional GH�5 each was squeezed out from the unsuspecting players, most of whom were drawn from juvenile and second division clubs, for registration forms. The justifiers took place at the SCC Park at Weija, near Accra and the Tema Sports Stadium, between May and August, this year. Players who could not afford to pay the fees were said to have stepped aside and watched their �lucky� colleagues with immense envy as they took to the field. Thirty-five who were finally selected as �survivors of the fittest� were presented with certificates of participation but were later told by officials of Soccerkick to pay $3,000 dollars each to enable them to process visa and other travel documents for the trip. Unable to afford the fee, one of the victims, Smith Sakyi, who appeared down in the doldrums in the company of his �gritty� uncle, Kofi Baah, approached the Times on September 10, 2009, to solicit financial support for the trip. �They told me I was a great midfielder and once my manager or any sponsor pays the money, I would be on the next available flight to Russia or Spain to start a spanking new career,� the 17-year-old Smith, a Form 2 student of Akumadan Senior High School in the Ashanti Region told the Times newspaper. However, his story drew a bundle of suspicion. Determined to delve into the base of the matter, the reporter feigned interest in sponsoring Smith and thereby met the Chief Executive Officer of Soccerkick, Kojo Germain Owusu Adjapong, and the Programme Manager, Eric Achan, at their Adabraka office in Accra. They confirmed the story. The confident-looking men told the Times that their outfit was as clean as a whistle and had sent �quite a number of players to Russian club, FC Sakhalin, in particular, and other European clubs.� They described Soccerkick as a �reputable player management and talent hunting outfit with a wide network around the world, including links with Russian FIFA Agent, Alexandria Osipov.� Out of the lot, Soccerkick officials, however, mentioned Bashiru Mohammed as the only player who made the trip to Russia on August 18 after the exercise and returned on September 7 having failed to fetch him a club, �because the transfer window had been closed.� Asked why they collected GH�50 from each player for the once-day trial exercise, they explained the money covered training and camping. �Even so, only 67 players paid the amount and not 400 players as it�s bring alleged,� Mr Achan, who said he was contracted by Soccerkick in June, this year, to assist in the talent-identification exercise, chipped in. �That�s a lie. We were more than 400 players and they collected GH�50 from us right from the scratch after which 100 of us were selected for the final lap at Tema,� Smith retorted. �They told s we were going to be camped in Tema for three days, but it turned out to be a one-day event. It was non-residential and we were not given meals as they had promised,� he added. When the 58-year-old manager of the Russian division two club, Mr Viktor Aleksandrovich Nozdrin, was contacted on phone on September 14, he denied any knowledge of Soccerkick, adding that the five-year-old club has no history of African players. Checks at the Registrar General�s Department about Soccerkick on September 15 drew blank as officials there said there was no such name in their register. Similar stories were replicated at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Association (GFA). General Secretary of the GFA, Kofi Nsiah, told the Times that Soccerkick could not have been a legitimate football institution �since they are not registered with us,� and warned the public to be on the lookout for such quack agencies. He said in order to qualify as a FIFA player agent or agency in Ghana, applicants would first be made to take an examination with the GFA after which, when successful, be asked to insure their outfit in a minimum premium of $100,000 dollars or obtain a guarantee from a reputable financial institution. Mr Nsiah asked parents, especially, to keep their eyes on such agencies �who are cashing in on Ghana�s soaring image in football to dupe the unsuspecting public. �It�s pathetic. These agents or agencies just take huge money from na�ve players and their parents under the pretext of sending them abroad only to emerge at the end of the day that none of them qualified for the exercise,� the GFA General Secretary lamented. He said the FA was inundated with such cases and appealed to the public to help flush out these charlatans from the system.