But the 21-year-old’s adventure didn’t turn out quite as planned.
After spending hundreds of dollars to fulfill his dream, Jinaid is now stranded in Dushanbe with no job and no money.
“Now, I’m struggling without doing anything,” Jinaid said.
“I’m hungry, my visa has expired, no job to do.” Jinaid is among a group of at least 10 Nigerians who have traveled to Tajikistan in the past three years, seeking to join soccer clubs and make a decent living.
Some of them did play for Tajik teams, but they complain that what they got fell far short of expectations. Alleged Afghan middleman They have sued an Afghan national living in Dushanbe for allegedly acting as a middleman and luring them to the country on false pretenses.
The alleged middleman, Hamidullah Abdulmannon, has been charged on suspicion of scamming the would-be footballers. He is also accused of promising other young Nigerians places at Tajik universities.
Afghan national Hamidullah Abdulmannon says the Nigerians are ganging up against him, with no basis for the allegation that he was an unethical broker. Jinaid says he traveled to Tajikistan along with three other Nigerian players.
“(Abdulmannon told) my coach in Nigeria that there is a football team here which is looking for good players, so our coach got in touch with us (and told) us that he had an offer for us: to come down to Tajikistan,” Jinaid says. “We paid money to my coach.
I paid $700.” But in Tajikistan, Abdulmannon is alleged to have forced Jinaid to pay another $1,500 for what he called “university fees,” telling the player he would be deported if he didn’t pay.
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