I was abused, i was harassed, i was violated without my consent. Children get abused in football. Everybody knows. There are not many worse things in life, not in Football Life but in life generally, than child abuse. But has fifa ripped up its own rule book in gabon . Gabon, on the west coast of Central Africa a country where the lives of countless Young Players have been devastated in what could be the biggest Sexual Abuse Scandal the world of football has ever seen. This is parfait ndong. Bonjour. A man who risked everything to reveal the horrors of a scandal that has rocked african football. In the 1990s, he was a star player for gabon, selected 45 times to play for his country. The striker played most of his professional career in europe, before injury forced him to quit and he became a coach in switzerland. In 2019, he returned home to gabon and set up his own football academy. And the changes, says parfait, were shocking. He discovered that sexual abuse of Young Players at all levels of Gabonese Football was rife, and he claims that Warning Signs were being ignored. In 2018, shiva nzigou, a former star striker for the Gabonese International team, went public about the sexual abuse he himself had faced during his career. Parfait says he took his concerns to the highest powers in Gabonese Football. In desperation, parfait turned to local media. Then, in december 2021, everything changed. A british newspaper, the guardian, named several leading figures in Gabonese Football alleged to have sexually abused hundreds of boys over a period of decades. Finally, the story was out and more players decided to go public. One of them was brice makaya, a former International Player and youth coach, who said he had been ignored. Within weeks of the scandal erupting, four coaches were arrested and three remain in prison since. At the heart of the most damaging allegations was the coach, Patrick Assoumou eyi, widely known by his nickname capello. For decades, he was the head coach of gabons National Youth teams. Crucially, capello had the power to decide who would be selected to play for the country on the International Stage and who wouldnt. Capello admitted charges of raping, grooming and exploiting Young Players, and remains in prison awaiting sentencing. The other arrested coaches deny the allegations made against them. While making this film, we spoke to more than 30 witnesses. They told us about a culture of sexual abuse entrenched in Gabonese Football. Most of them were too afraid to testify. Actors revoiced their testimony to protect their identities, and names have also been changed. Julien played for gabons National Team for several yea rs. One time, me and another player were having a shower. Thats when i saw capello. He was watching us. He had his hands down his trousers. I got really scared. He started to contact me obsessively, calling every day, sometimes late at night, and sending me sexual messages. I was just 1a at the time. I was terrified. The harassment never stopped. From the day ijoined his team until the day i left gabon, that was about three years, he kept calling me, even when i was abroad. Aleksi climbed through the youth ranks of the gabonese game and went on to play in europe. In gabon, football and paedophilia go hand in hand. Were all told the stories. People will openly say this or that guy is a paedophile, or make jokes about it. Make sure you dont go into the showers with so and so. Were laughing like it was normal. Another victim described capello as a monster. His harrowing testimony was shared with us. We were at a football Training Camp for the under 17 selection team. We were staying in a dorm, like soldiers in bunk beds. I they would come into our rooms in the middle of the night and. He cries sorry. This is hard to talk about. They would come into our rooms and i saw the boys| being ta ken away. They didnt have a choice. When they came back, i could tell they couldnt sleep. While we were training i for the selection games, those boys were passing blood in the toilets and showers. We could see blood coming out of their bums. They could not play i during the next game. They couldnt run any more. I didnt understand what was going on, but nobody would talk about it. 0n the fourth night of the camp, they came to wake me and my best friend. They took us to a room with red lights. It was full of naked men. One of them was capello. I have forgotten the. Names of the others. They started touching me and my friend, and ijustl didnt understand. I wanted to scream. They told me i should masturbate them and give them a blow up. I refused, so then they threatened me, saying that if i didnt do it, i would lose my place in the team. I would be left on the bench until the end. Of the tournament. I was so shocked, i didnt find any words to speak. I all i had left were tears. I saw how they started to rape my friend. I looked him in the eye i and he looked back at me as if to say, letsjust goj along with them and get it over with. I started to pray and pray and then i got up. I wanted to get out, but the door was locked. They grabbed me and threw me onto the floor. There were two security men. It was like they were prepared for this. I i tried to fight them. Off, but they forced me to masturbate them and give them a blow up. I i told them i couldnt do it. I cried and screamed and screamed and screamed. Until they had finished with my friend. They let him go and told me i would never be selected i to play ever again and that i if i dared to speak to anyone about what happened, your family will be killed. Applause remy ebanega is a former gabon international. In 2014, he set up the countrys first professional football players� union. The former defender says he has several friends who were abused by coaches. He believes he avoided abuse because of his Family Connections and a childhood spent living outside libreville. He told us how specific words were used to indicate abuse. We were staying at a hotel the day before an Important International game with the junior National Team. There were three coaches there. Capello asks if i was a believer. I told him i was not because i dont go to church. He said i was missing something and that i needed a spiritual father to give me presence of mind. He said they could see when i played football that i was empty inside. I did not understand what he meant. I thought he wanted me to get baptised. I was very confused. He then told me, you can get the presence of mind when a man like myself sleeps with you. Like you will sleep with a woman. Um, all of a sudden, i realised that i was alone in the room with three men, and i started to shake. I was so much afraid. Capello then told me that it would not take very long. That there were three of them in the room and they will each have a go with me and that it will not hurt. He said that i would always be selected to play for the National Team afterwards and that other players in my team had done it too, including my friend whom i was sharing a room with. They kept trying to convince me. I was so confused and, to be honest, i was tempted to agree with them. I was afraid. I had never been with a woman before. And i didnt really know what they were talking about. I was trembling and very sweaty. I told them i wasnt refusing to do anything but that since this was some kind of baptism, i will have to ask my mother first. One of them massaged my shoulders and said, little brother, you are a good player. What are you afraid of . I was shaking. Shaking. I still get goose bumps talking about it. I didnt know where the idea came from. Itjust dawned on me to tell them that i wanted to use the toilet. They were hesitant at first, but one of them said they should just let me go and come back. And i went back to my room. I couldnt look my roommate in the eyes. I went to the bathroom and i didnt leave the room again and they never came to call me back. After that day, i was never again selected to play for the youth National Team. Over the past decades, countless boys were left unprotected. To talk about scale, i dont know how many coaches were abusing boys, but for one moment, lets take a look at capello alone. He is the most well known and he has been doing this for 25 or 30 years. Every year he had access to at least 50 boys, if not more. So calculate that thats 50 times 30, and that is just one person. Now, lets consider how many other people were part of that network. Coaches, Assistant Coaches and club leaders. We are talking about thousands of boys. So, they arrested capello, but how long have they known and not done anything about it . They stopped at the lowest level. It goes all the way to the top, but they will do anything to cover it up. Capello is a scapegoat. It is the heads at the top that should be rolling. According to all the witnesses we spoke to, they believe more perpetrators are still at large and not enough has been done to protect children in the future. Remy� s union in gabon is part of fifpro, the global union for professional football players. So, when the story broke, two lines of investigation were working in parallel. You have one being led by the state of gabon and one being led on the football side by fifa. And this is a different type of investigation, to suspend them from football activities. So its not criminal, its only football related. The federation in charge of running Gabonese Football is called fegafoot. It is financially supported by fifa, the governing body of world football, and falls under fifas code of ethics, which includes fifas Child Safeguarding Policy that states. It also mentions that when child abuse allegations surface. But did footballs Governing Bodies fail in their duty of care to victims of gabons Football Abuse Scandal . Following the international revelations, pierre alain mounguengui, fegafoot� s president , was accused of Turning A Blind Eye to years of abuse. As the scandal broke, fifa trusted fegafoot to investigate its own people. Critics say this left victims even more vulnerable. As the scandal broke, fifa trusted fegafoot to investigate its own people. Critics say this left victims even more vulnerable. Because the same people that may be accused are those calling the shots, especially when the coach, mr capello, has been employed by the federation. The only reason i can speak to you is because i am no longer in gabon. Those who are still there cannot testify. Their lives are in danger. They will be targeted afterwards. I know so many who have been abused or have been raped who will never testify. Never. Despite calls for his resignation, mounguengui remained in charge of fegafoot in the months that followed the arrest of Coach Capello and three others. Then, in april 2022, mounguengui was re elected as president of fegafoot. I believe that mr mounguengui should have been suspended before the re election took place. On balance, the severity of the alleged cover up should have triggered an automatic suspension, temporary suspension, before the election. Almost three weeks after his re election, mounguengui was arrested by gabonese authorities on the charge of failing to report crimes of paedophilia. I believe that when it comes to mr mounguenguis responsibility, you can look at it in two ways. Either hes incompetent because he should know whats happening in Gabonese Football as president of the federation, or hes guilty of having covered years of abuse for not acting after having received serious reports of what was happening. With the president of fegafoot in prison, all eyes were on fifa. Its Child Safeguarding Policy states. I think its a messed up situation. Some of the key people are still in place and still have a lot of power. Instead of sanctioning mounguengui following his arrest, the confederation of african football, caf, who are part of fifa, sent a letter to the gabonese Sports Minister Questioning his imprisonment. And a few months later, the president of caf, patrice motsepe, Visited Mounguengui while he was still in prison in gabon. Caf� s actions could be perceived as political interference. I know a lot of players were abused. If those boys see the president of caf, supported by fifa, comes to gabon to visit mounguengui in prison| but doesnt speak one word in support of victims about what is happening, what should they make of that . How should they feel . It is horrible. After almost six months in prison, in october 2022, mounguengui was provisionally released while investigations are still ongoing. And just three weeks later, at the opening of the fifa world cup in qatar, mounguengui was pictured hugging caf� s president , patrice motsepe, with gianni infantino, the head of fifa, standing close by. I cried when i saw that image. It makes me so angry. In march of 2023, mounguengui took part in the re election of infantino as fifa president , and, injuly 2023, mounguengui was himself elected to join the highest ranks of caf as a member of the executive committee. We confronted the caf Secretary General about the lack of caf and fifa sanctions against mounguengui. If today there is no decision of the justice saying that. Mounguengui, you are guilty. You are guilty, you are sanctioned. How caf can sanction this . This is internally matterj of the justice of, arm. In, erm. In, arm, in gabon, of course. Ok, so until they find him guilty, caf and fifa cannot do anything else but support him . We have to accept the principle of, erm. Of, erm. Innocent until Proven Guilty . Exactly. Of course. Caf, and or fifa, they have no obligation to wait for a State Decision before they sanction someone. So presumption of innocence, yes, but it cannot be a justification to not sanctioning people for violations of disciplinary codes and codes of ethics. This is the exact reason why these codes exist. The more time i spent in gabon, the more i realised that the full extent of abuse here may never be known. When we tried to speak to some victims, our team was threatened and conversations were blocked. Parfait� s own future is just as uncertain. Since speaking out, he has received threats and support for his Football School has dried up. We put the allegations in this film to fegafoot, caf and fifa. All parties condemned child abuse in any form in the strongest possible terms. Fegafoot and its president , pierre alain mounguengui, denied all the allegations made against them and stressed that. They said they. Fifa and caf denied all allegations made against them and reiterate that. Fifa and caf stressed that. Caf stated that. The former gabonese sports minister, franck nguema. And says he then. If you feel distressed by the references in this programme, please speak to a Health Professional or an organisation that offers support, such as befrienders worldwide, at www. Befrienders. Org hello. Sunday will be getting off to a cold start in most places and it promises to be a rather chilly day but it wont be as windy as it was on saturday and there wont be as many showers. High pressure building its way in from the west. Notice the isobars still quite tightly packed across northern and eastern parts of scotland still quite windy here and a weak frontal system bringing cloud and some showery rain into the north of scotland. Something wintry for a time up over higher ground, although much of that will turn back to rain. Southern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales having a fine day after what will be a cold and, in places, frosty start. Long spells of sunshine. Just a few showers around the coasts. Still quite blustery in the north east of scotland but lighter winds elsewhere. Temperatures 7 degrees in lerwick, 1a for st helier. Elsewhere, generally 10 13 degrees. Now, sunday night will be another cold one. Light winds in most places. Some mist and fog patches could well develop. A little bit breezy in the south and in the north. Just the odd shower in the north of scotland and also, perhaps, in the south east of england. But in between, temperatures dropping close to or even below freezing with our area of High Pressure still with us, but low pressure trying to squeeze in from the south and also from the north. So, it is northern and southern parts that will turn a little bit windy as we go through the day on monday. In between, light winds, early mist and fog clearing, some good spells of sunshine but brisk winds in the north of scotland maybe the odd shower here. Also maybe the odd shower in southern england, where it will also turn quite windy. That strong wind also affecting the channel islands. Temperatures generally 11, 12 or 13 degrees in most places. Now, on tuesday, i think the winds will ease a little bit in the north but, conversely, theyll pick up across the south. Turning breezy across more of england and wales and some showery rain, perhaps, across the channel islands, the South West Of England but notice temperatures rising a little bit up to around 15 or 16 degrees. A sign of things to come. It is going to turn much more unsettled through midweek. Weather systems pushing up from the south. Some potentially quite heavy bursts of rain but with southerly winds, temperatures climbing easily to around 16 degrees. It could get a little warmer than that in some places but we will see some outbreaks of quite heavy rain. Live from london, this is bbc news. Israel masses troops near gazaas it prepares against hamas. Thousands of people flee the north of gaza following israeli Evacuation Orders as the humanitarian crisis in the territory deepens. Every time i have the thought of me dying of a bomb in gaza. Like, it is not a good thing. And President Biden speaks to the israeli and palestinian leaders as the us steps up efforts to contain the escalating conflict. The Israeli Military says its planning an attack on gaza by air, sea and land as the countrys Prime Minister warns the next stage of the war with hamas is coming