{"product_id":"the-lost-boys-inside-footballs-slave-trade","title":"The Lost Boys: Inside Football's Slave Trade","description":"\n\u003cp\u003eFrom South America and Africa, kids as young as thirteen are leaving poverty-stricken families for new lives in Europe, having been sold a vision of untold riches in professional soccer. This is soccer's slave trade--the beautiful game turned ugly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTalent-spotted by scouts, these kids are told they could be “the next big thing.” But the reality is very different. Having spent their family's life savings to join a much-hyped academy, they soon discover the academies barely exist and that they have been exploited. Only a tiny percentage of the hopefuls are chosen just to be coached for the slim chance of a professional contract; the rest are abandoned. With no money to go home--let alone the confidence to face their heartbroken families--these “Lost Boys” find themselves stuck in the country to which they have been trafficked, with crime often their only means of survival.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost Boys\u003c\/i\u003e exposes for the first time the anatomy of soccer's human-trafficking scandal, the extent of the abuse, and the ways in which it ruins lives and threatens the credibility of the sport. With unique access to a charity trying to rescue and repatriate the children and a special investigative unit set up to stem the problem, Ed Hawkins dives into one of the most serious and heartrending issues in sports today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost Boys\u003c\/i\u003e is investigative journalism at its best: shocking, moving, and hoping to make a real difference.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42994364481616,"sku":"9781472914934B","price":13.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/products\/the-lost-boys-inside-footballs-slave-trade","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}