Home / Crime and Justice / Teen Soccer Stars Race Cartels for a Future
Teen Soccer Stars Race Cartels for a Future
29 Jun
Summary
- Cartels are taking over local soccer leagues in Celaya, Mexico.
- Soccer offers a rare, honest escape from poverty and violence.
- Young players face recruitment by cartels or professional teams.
In Celaya, Mexico, a city grappling with pervasive violence, youth soccer tournaments have become a crucial refuge and a potential pathway out of poverty for teenagers.
However, cartels are actively infiltrating these local leagues, using them for money laundering and to exert control, leading to violence such as the January incident where 11 people were killed after a game.
Coach Sugey Milagros Salinas Grimaldi works tirelessly to keep her players, the Ravens, focused on soccer as an alternative to gang involvement, funding the team herself due to a lack of public support.
Players like 14-year-old captain Juan Pablo aspire to professional careers, while others, such as Manuel, struggle with personal trauma and the temptation of the narco-culture, highlighting the difficult choices these young athletes face.
The escalating cartel presence, including demands for payments at fields, threatens to silence one of the community's last remaining joys and opportunities for its youth.
