SPANISH TOUR FIASCO ENDS IN JOY

Devastating travel blunder turns into joyous reunion for South African youth football teams

- NICOLA DANIELS

THE traumatic week-long wait ended in joy and celebrations when anxious parents welcomed their children home from Spain after the local football academy responsible for the trip failed to provide them with return tickets.

"That was a very traumatic experience. What kept us together was that we could chat to our daughter on a daily basis, video calls that kept our cool. We are just happy she's ok," said an overjoyed mother Moeneeb Coetzee.

Her daughter Aalia was among a group of 38 including an under 14 team, an under 19 team and a girls team participating in the Donosti Cup 2025 in Spain. Until the very last day things were running smoothly, however when they were ready to return, they learned their return flights had not been booked by organisers, despite paying R50 000 for an all expenses trip

BT Academy has previously cited delayed visa appointments as the reason it failed to confirm return flights in time, leading to unaffordable prices when they wanted to pay.