Latest news with #DonostiCup
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Alleged fraud hits BT Academy
WELCOME BACK: Families wait for their stranded BT Football Academy players Image: Ian Landsberg POLICE have launched an investigation into fraud allegations against the owner of the football academy at the centre of a trip to Spain that resulted in more than 30 children being stranded after not having return tickets. The mother of one of the players, whose identity is being withheld, has come forward and accused Brandon Timmy of misleading her about her son's return flight and refusing to refund the money. She said her son did not experience the trip after misplacing his passport at Dubai airport and never made it to Spain with the rest of the team. She also claims Timmy assured her the flight was booked, but no ticket ever existed. Initially, 38 people travelled to Spain to participate in the Donosti Cup. After the tournament ended, 10 returned home on their own, but the remaining 28 - mostly children and three coaches - were left stranded without return flights, sparking widespread concern. 'He (Timmy) told me the flights had been paid for, but no booking was ever made, and he kept the money,' she said. The mother also claims he breached a contract and now questions whether the document was legally drafted or fabricated like the flight details. Grassy Park police confirmed that a fraud case has been opened and is under investigation. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Coach Jayvin Chisholm, formerly involved with the team, confirmed the boy who lost his passport in Dubai was accompanied home by one of the coaches, who later returned to Spain to join the group. 'There are a lot of kids who still want to train with us. Only a handful of the players who went on the tour were from BT Football Academy,' he said. He said BT Football operated under Belmont Spurs FC, a registered company run by Timmy. 'They didn't have their own league and were playing under the Stellenbosch district,' said Chisholm. He said many players and parents were given false hope. 'They were sold a dream. It was made to seem like professional contracts were guaranteed after the tour, which simply wasn't true. Right now, we're just focusing on recovery from this.' South African Football Association (SAFA) Cape Town president Bennett Bailey confirmed the matter is being investigated. SAFA is the governing body of football in South Africa, while FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) oversees global football rules, compliance, and tournaments. 'We need to get to the bottom of who officially went on this trip—if it was Belmont Spurs, then there are regulations they may have violated. If it was BT, it's even more serious, as they aren't authorised to participate in FIFA-sanctioned tournaments,' said Bailey. One of the players, Aalia Coetzee, 18, from Rocklands, who plays for Norway Park FC in Maitland, said: 'At first, Brandon seemed professional. Yet what happened was unbelievable. But the coaches looked after us, gave us food, a place to sleep, and kept our spirits up. I was so happy to see my family again on Thursday, July 24.' Ozayah Greckwa, 18, from Heideveld, said: 'The senior players stepped up and helped the younger ones. I'm no longer with BT Football, but I'll continue playing. This experience was good and bad.' Timmy did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. Cape Times
eNCA
7 days ago
- Sport
- eNCA
Stranded children and coaches back home
JOHANNESBURG - Imagine crossing the globe in pursuit of your dreams then being stuck in a country you're not familiar with, with no hope or way back home. Young Cape Town footballers who went to compete for the Donosti Cup in Spain found themselves in that situation.
Eyewitness News
7 days ago
- Sport
- Eyewitness News
BT Football Academy group stuck in Portugal set to return to CT by Sunday
CAPE TOWN - A group of 28 children from the BT Football Academy and their coaches who have been stuck in Lisbon, Portugal, are set to be back in Cape Town by the end of this week, thanks to the generosity of South Africans. They were in Spain earlier in July, taking part in an international football tournament. But on the day that they were meant to return to South Africa, they discovered they had no flights booked. ALSO READ: 'Phenomenal' South Africans band together to bring stranded football group back home Thanks to the Tracey Lange Cares Initiative, which spearheaded calls for donations, enough funds were raised to bring them home. They left for Spain on 6 July and spent a week in St Sebastian for the Donosti Cup. But when it was time to leave on 14 July, they found out they had no flights confirmed to get home. In an interview with KFM's Carl Wastie on Monday, BT Football Academy owner Brandon Timmy explained why return tickets were not secured: 'The issue that we had for our return tickets was that we had our application for our visa's processed quite late, so we only had appointments that we received from the application centre round about end of May.' The families of nine children managed to get their children and one of the coaches home this past Saturday. The remaining 25 children and three coaches have been stuck in Lisbon and reached out on social media for help. But because of an outpouring of donations, flights have been secured for the group to get home.
Time Out
7 days ago
- Time Out
Nothing but love: Tracey Lange on rallying behind stranded soccer tour
For radio personality Tracey Lange, having access to a platform and using it for good was a no-brainer when it came to a group of teens stranded overseas. What was meant to be the trip of a lifetime turned into a harrowing ordeal for this group of aspiring soccer players when travel planning a football tour to Spain went wrong. After competing in the Donosti Cup, more than two dozen players from Cape Town-based BT Football Academy found themselves stranded in Portugal, with no flights home. Parents, who had paid an estimated R50k for the trip, were left in shock as return flights failed to materialise — reportedly due to visa delays and inflated travel costs. As panic set in, Cape Town rallied. Enter radio personality Tracey Lange, who spotted a post on the Coloured Girls Rock Facebook page and jumped into action. She helped launch a public fundraising campaign that would ultimately become a lifeline. She joined forces with pastors Dane and Tersia Mesane of Christ Culture Church, whose compassion and leadership played a vital role in reuniting the children with their families. "I saw the post on Coloured Girls Rock page on Facebook and that to me was proof that this was legit. We got hold of someone who could assist with the contact details of one of the coaches. We wanted all information before going live on social media so that all questions could be answered. Avukile got onto the parents' WhatsApp group to make sure he had all the info from the parents,' recalls Tracey. "The response was immense from the get-go with someone suggesting that if just 1000 people donate R50 it would make everything possible,' she says. And just like that – within 24 hours – hope turned into action. It was confirmed: the children were finally on their way back home. The first group of boys are expected to arrive back in the Mother City this afternoon. Behind-the-scenes acts of kindness Further offers of assistance and posts celebrating Tracey's efforts are being shared far and wide, with some real homegrown flavour. One "aunty" has promised Gatsby sandwiches for the whole squad on arrival. "People have shown us just how good the world can be," adds Tracey. According to reports, the academy cited late visa appointments, last-minute flight costs, and a lack of funds as reasons for the failure. As a result, the group was moved by bus to Lisbon, Portugal, in search of cheaper flights, where they remained stuck without confirmed travel arrangements. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BT Football (@btfootball_sa) The ordeal serves as a stark reminder of the importance of proper travel planning, timely visa applications and documentation, along with the necessary travel insurance - all essential safeguards to prevent young travellers from being left stranded far from home.
IOL News
23-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
SAFA sets sights on BT Academy over trip to Spain
Cape Town group representing South Africa at the Donosti Cup in Spain. Image: Supplied THE South African Football Association (SAFA) has distanced itself from sanctioning BT Football Academy's trip to Spain where more than 30 children were left stranded after not having return tickets. 'We wish to place on record that this tour was not sanctioned by SAFA Cape Town or the South African Football Association (SAFA) at national level. Ordinarily, applications like this would come from Cape Town to National and no such application was forwarded to National,' Safa Cape Town told the SABC. The association has also confirmed that an investigation into the matter was underway. 'BT Academy used to belong to the Two Oceans Local Football Association as a member of SAFA Cape Town; they subsequently resigned to go to Cape Winelands. I spoke to the president of SAFA Cape Winelands earlier today to enquire and also to do some homework because if you don't belong on this side, you may belong somewhere,' the SABC quoted SAFA Cape Town president Bennet Bailey as saying. The group of 13 to 19-year-olds and their coaches had participated in the Donosti Cup 2025 in Spain where they did well and had a positive experience until the date they were set to depart on July 16. The group did not return and the following day their parents learned they needed to pay an extra R15 000 to secure return flights home. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ While some of the players have returned home, some 28 are staying in Lisbon, Portugal, expected to return by Thursday. They had paid a total fee of R50 000 that was supposed to be all inclusive of food, transport, accommodation and flights. After parents reached out for help, South Africans came on board including the Tracey Lange Cares (TLC) initiative and Shantelle Engelbrecht from the Facebook page Coloured Girls Rock, to facilitate the return of the group. Senior pastors Dane and Tersia Mesane from Christ Culture Church said they made the final payment to Lange and her team for all 28 flight tickets at 2.55pm, with full confirmation received from the travel agent by 6.28pm. Some of the group were expected to return on two flights landing on Wednesday and one on Thursday. A Kraaifontein father of a 13-year-old said: 'I am very much excited, just wanting him to get home, wanting the rest of the kids to get home safe and sound. Everybody had to stand together and we had to agree on one common goal which was getting the kids home but I was shocked how quick everything happened, everything blew up yesterday (Monday) but us as parents we've been dealing with the chairman of the club since last week Thursday when he initially asked us for the additional funds.' BT Academy cited delayed visa appointments as the reason it failed to book return flights in time, leading to unaffordable prices and leaving the group of 38 stranded. Weighing in on the matter, a travel agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said the biggest question was how the children were able to board their flights and enter Spain without producing return tickets. 'While a visa application doesn't require an actual purchased ticket, some embassies are strict. They'll call the airline or hotel to confirm bookings. In this case, they could have gotten dummy itineraries just for the visa application. But the biggest question is, how did the airline check them in on a one-way ticket? Even when flying from South Africa to Kenya, travellers are often denied boarding without a return ticket. European countries are especially strict. And once they got to Spain, how did immigration allow them through? Maybe return tickets were booked, which got through airport checks, then cancelled later," the travel agent said. BT Football Academy did not respond to further requests for comment. The Consulate General of Spain in Cape Town also did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. Cape Times
