SAFA sets sights on BT Academy over trip to Spain

THE South African Football Association (SAFA) has distanced itself from sanctioning BT Football Academy’s trip to Spain where more than 30 children were left stranded after not having return tickets. 

“We wish to place on record that this tour was not sanctioned by SAFA Cape Town or the South African Football Association (SAFA) at national level. Ordinarily, applications like this would come from Cape Town to National and no such application was forwarded to National,” Safa Cape Town told the SABC.

The association has also confirmed that an investigation into the matter was underway.

“BT Academy used to belong to the Two Oceans Local Football Association as a member of SAFA Cape Town; they subsequently resigned to go to Cape Winelands. I spoke to the president of SAFA Cape Winelands earlier today to enquire and also to do some homework because if you don’t belong on this side, you may belong somewhere,” the SABC quoted SAFA Cape Town president Bennett Bailey as saying.

The group of 13 to 19-year-olds and their coaches had participated in the Donosti Cup 2025 in Spain where they did well and had a positive experience until the date they were set to depart on July 16. 

The group did not return and the following day their parents learned they needed to pay an extra R15 000 to secure return flights home. 

While some of the players have returned home, some 28 are staying in Lisbon, Portugal, expected to return by Thursday.

They had paid a total fee of R50 000 that was supposed to be all inclusive of food, transport, accommodation and flights. 

After parents reached out for help, South Africans came on board including the Tracey Lange Cares (TLC) initiative and Shantelle Engelbrecht from the Facebook page Coloured Girls Rock, to facilitate the return of the group. 

Senior pastors Dane and Tersia Mesane from Christ Culture Church said they made the final payment to Lange and her team for all 28 flight tickets at 2.55pm, with full confirmation received from the travel agent by 6.28pm. 

Some of the group were expected to return on two flights landing on Wednesday and one on Thursday. 

A Kraaifontein father of a 13-year-old said: “I am very much excited, just wanting him to get home, wanting the rest of the kids to get home safe and sound. Everybody had to stand together and we had to agree on one common goal which was getting the kids home but I was shocked how quick everything happened, everything blew up yesterday (Monday) but us as parents we’ve been dealing with the chairman of the club since last week Thursday when he initially asked us for the additional funds.” 

BT Academy cited delayed visa appointments as the reason it failed to book return flights in time, leading to unaffordable prices and leaving the group of 38 stranded.

Weighing in on the matter, a travel agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said the biggest question was how the children were able to board their flights and enter Spain without producing return tickets. 

“While a visa application doesn't require an actual purchased ticket, some embassies are strict. They’ll call the airline or hotel to confirm bookings. In this case, they could have gotten dummy itineraries just for the visa application. But the biggest question is, how did the airline check them in on a one-way ticket? Even when flying from South Africa to Kenya, travellers are often denied boarding without a return ticket. European countries are especially strict. And once they got to Spain, how did immigration allow them through? Maybe return tickets were booked, which got through airport checks, then cancelled later," the travel agent said. 

BT Football Academy did not respond to further requests for comment. The Consulate General of Spain in Cape Town also did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. 

Cape Times