Iconic British magazine When Saturday Comes – which for many years has covered aspects of football around the world that are neglected elsewhere in the media – focuses on the work of Mission 89 and the issue of trafficking players from Africa to Europe in its latest issue. We reproduce the story here but you […]
Mission 89 is honored to support the work of photographer Jason Andrew and his ‘Black Diamonds’ project. Jason has an installation based on ‘Black Diamonds’ at the Spring/Break Art Show in New York City from March 6 to March 12. The exhibition features artists responding to the theme ‘Stranger Comes to Town’. ‘Black Diamonds’ documents […]
Social Media Internship/Volunteer The Social Media Intern is responsible for coordinating and executing the company’s social media strategy, working across key social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and the organisation’s website. This role offers the intern immersion into a start-up non-profit organisation and the successful candidate will work closely with key board members and […]
In the second part of our interview with photographer Jason Andrew on his “Black Diamonds” project, he reveals some of the personal struggles the players went through and the complex nature of the international movement of young players – especially from regions of the world experiencing economic challenges. The “Black Diamonds” project began in 2010 […]
Allegations against Chelsea Football Club that it has broken FIFA rules by allegedly signing 25 foreign players under the age of 18 must be taken seriously, according to Mission 89. The report, published in The Guardian, reveals an investigation carried out by the compliance unit of FIFA’s transfer matching system flagged 25 player cases in which […]
Photographer Jason Andrew grew up in California, USA, and taught at an elementary school for four years before studying photography. He has since been published in Time, the Financial Times, the New Yorker, and the British Journal of Photography, among others. In 2010, Andrew traveled to Istanbul in Turkey where he met aspiring footballers from […]
The Guardian announced Manchester United’s Juan Mata is the newspaper’s 2017 Footballer of the Year – an award that Mission 89 considers an excellent choice. Mata made news in 2017 for his work with the Common Goal project that was launched in August, 2017. Mata and a growing number of footballers around the world donate 1% […]
Thank you for your support in 2017 and we look forward to an exciting and productive 2018.
Football has a dirty little secret: the movement of players from Africa to Europe and Asia. It is a complex issue that involves exploitation of young athletes and at its worst examples is defined as human trafficking. Just like a typical football match there are many forces in play and many individuals with specific roles […]
An increasing number of young, talented footballers are coming to Europe from Africa. They dream of a career in European sport. The professional football industry is competitive and can be ruthless. Players who have traveled from Africa are often discarded by clubs and agents and left to fend for themselves with no legal documentation. Without […]