European soccer scouts look to Africa for budding talent because players there “are young, technically adept, athletic — and cheap.” Is this a modern day slave trade? “Footballers from Africa, the continent where the World Cup begins on June 11, are a hot commodity. European clubs have been going to Africa to look for talent since the 1950s, and in recent years the search has become a hugely profitable business,” says Spiegel Online. “About one in four foreigners playing for a top-division European club comes from Africa. It is a business that trades in hope and is run by serious managers. But unscrupulous traffickers also have their fingers in the pie.”