South African kids stranded in Europe as dream football trip turns into nightmare

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Brandon Timmy of BT Football Academy and BT Travel.

Listen below:

What began as a dream football tour to Spain has turned into a logistical nightmare for Cape Town-based BT Football Academy, as dozens of children are stuck abroad.

The academy, which recently participated in the renowned Donosti Cup in San Sebastian, confirmed that their return plans have failed, leaving around 37 young players in Europe with no way home.

The players were originally set to return to South Africa on 16 July, with schools in the Western Cape scheduled to reopen on Tuesday, 22 July. But despite completing the tournament, many are still abroad, as return flights were not booked, despite parents paying R50,000 per child for the trip. 

Some parents have had to pay an additional R15,000 to secure flights for their stranded children. 

In a public statement, the academy cited delayed visa processing issues and a lack of funds, which disrupted their flight planning.

"Despite our early attempts to begin the visa process, we were only granted appointments much later than planned. Visas were received merely a week before the intended departure," the statement read.

Some parents are growing anxious, not knowing how their kids will return home.

Kiewit notes that a lack of funds and poor planning have led to this situation.

"It seems BT Football Academy received visas, reserved outgoing flights with the risk that there might not have been enough money to book return flights," explains Kiewit.

"The Academy made the decision to go to Spain, knowing there would be a risk and financial challenge to get these youngsters back home, causing parents and kids to worry about their safe return," he says.

"We applied for our visas quite late, and that was due to the limited availability that we received from the application centre... the appointment we received was toward the end of May and the first few weeks in June and the processing time takes about roughly 15 days... receiving the visas only a week before we left... previous tours... some visas getting rejected... we did not want to run the risk of purchasing tickets in advance because it could happen again..."

- Brandon Timmy, BT Football Academy

"This is something that we also addressed to the consulate as well... prior to the tour to find out what the issue is with our previous groups' visas getting rejected and then approved. With this specific tour, there was a lot that went into it from a financial point of view. Parents paid a lot of money to make this thing happen, so from our side we also had to pay money to the tournament organisers because it came with accommodation fees... so if we had not received our visas and bought the flight tickets, there would've been a massive loss... So, when we bought the tickets, it was already late, and the return ticket price at the time, upon receiving the visas, was extremely high."

- Brandon Timmy, BT Football Academy

"What we did from an Academy's point of view, even prior to the visa process, we were also trying to reach out and get extra assistance to help. With the timeline we had, we needed extra help in terms of having money to enable us... It was a tough decision, there was a lot at stake... we were really actively trying to get as much funding in to have the return tickets."

- Brandon Timmy, BT Football Academy

"... we genuinely want to get these kids home and do what we can to ensure that the losses the parents had to give out from a financial point of view, that in some way we can give it back."

- Brandon Timmy, BT Football Academy

Kiewit notes that this situation is traumatic for parents and kids.

Timmy acknowledges the trauma experienced by parents and kids, and says BT Academy are looking to book flights for those still stranded. However, no return flights were booked at the time of this discussion.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.