Argentina friendlies no fairy tale for African footballers

When Benin and Burkina Faso flew to Buenos Aires for friendlies against Argentina -- including superstar Lionel Messi's swansong-- it would have seemed like dreamland for players who rarely if ever rub shoulders with the aristocrats of the 'Beautiful Game'.

In reality, the organisation was a shambles, a member of the Benin delegation told AFP.

The flight to Buenos Aires took not hours but days. There was no hot water in the hotel. Training facilities were "not up to scratch".

And the African football associations invited didn't receive any of the profits from the match, which potentially generated millions of dollars in revenue and TV rights, he said.

Before the match, the state-owned daily La Nation in Cotonou looked forward breathlessly to the team "showcasing Benin to the whole world" and the national football association revelled in the "privilege" of being selected to play.

"I'm going to tell Messi, 'You are a god'," Benin defender Mohamed Tijani informed the Argentine press of the country's legendary No 10. "He's the best player in the world."

The Cheetahs lost 3-0.

Whilst there is no standard practice for organising international professional friendlies, smaller African teams generally rely on agencies to manage their away fixtures and don't necessarily make any profit from the games.

"African football associations accept these deals because everything is taken care of. It saves them having to find opponents and organise friendlies," explained an expert on African football who asked not to be named.

"But it's true the travel and accommodation arrangements are substandard."

Airport chaos

The Burkina friendly turned into a farce.

On the eve of kick-off, the Stallions were still stranded in Morocco after their connecting flight to Buenos Aires was cancelled.

The Burkina under-23 team were despatched to Argentina at the last minute and had to play jetlagged. By JUAN MABROMATA (AFP)

When organisers eventually found them a plane at the last minute, the senior squad was so annoyed it refused to board and Burkina ended up hastily despatching an under-23 team.

The young players arrived jet-lagged just a few hours before the match and were predictably thrashed 7-0 by this year's World Cup finalists.

Piqued, Burkina's military ruler Ibrahim Traore complained the country's football was "in a sorry state" and threatened "significant decisions" to "remedy it".

"The next international window in November is fast approaching," Burkinabe Football Federation official Ibrahim Dianda warned on Facebook.

"If the relationship between the stakeholders doesn't change, we risk a repeat of these difficulties and the consequences could be even more regrettable," he wrote.

Cashing in

Fans want to know who is to blame for the humiliation.

Could it be the African federations that accept these one-sided deals?

Or the Argentine Football Association (AFA), which is accused by some of capitalising on its high profile and on appearances by Messi -- the country's most famous living export -- to maximise revenue?

The Argentina vs Benin match was Messi's final game for his national side. By Luis ROBAYO (AFP)

Whatever the underlying motives, the AFA is in financial difficulty, faces a money laundering probe and has a president, Claudio Tapia, suspected of tax evasion.

In Argentina, some newspapers and social media channels pour scorn on what they sniffily refer to as "chatarra" (cheap, low-quality) fixtures.

Messi's side also played Mauritania (110th in the FIFA rankings) and Zambia (91st) in World Cup warm-ups this year, beating them 2-1 and 5-0 respectively.

His team also pocketed a hefty sum -- several million dollars -- for travelling to Luanda in November 2025 for a friendly marking Angola's 50th Independence Day celebrations.

An assist and a goal by the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner ensured a 2-0 victory over the African side.

In reaction to the uproar in Burkina over the national team's treatment, match organiser Eurodata Sport issued a terse statement shared online by the AFA that it had "honoured its contractual commitments".

They declined to respond to AFP's request for comment.