Parents of 34 CT footballers who were stranded in Europe set to meet with trip organisers
The group was abandoned in Portugal after it emerged that the academy didn't secure flights home for the squad.
Parents of the young BT Football players waiting for the first group of players to arrive at the Cape Town International Airport on 23 July 2025. Picture: Cailyn Pretorius/EWN
CAPE TOWN - The parents of the 34 young Cape Town footballers who were stranded in Europe during a botched tour are expected to meet the organisers of the trip for the first time after the ordeal.
The children and four coaches flew to Spain in July for a football tour arranged by the BT Football Academy.
But the group was abandoned in Portugal after it emerged that the academy didn't secure flights home for the squad.
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BT Football Academy has since closed down.
The academy failed to book return flights despite participants paying R50,000 each for the trip, leaving the entire squad stranded for more than a week.
Virgil Martin, a parent of one of the former BT Football Academy players, said they'd received an invitation to an in-person meeting with academy chairperson, Brandon Timmy, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
The invite states that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the challenges and developments that occurred during the trip.
But Martin said he did not want to give Timmy a platform.
Martin said that some of the parents had opened cases with SAPS.