An African star has now revealed the harrowing experience he endured while at an Egyptian club, telling his family at one point that he might not come out alive.
Raphael Ayagwa now plies his trade for Libyan Premier League club Al Hilal SC Benghazi after terminating his contract with Aswan SC, where he was held against his will and assaulted by one of the club's officials, according to representative organisation for professional footballers FIFPRO.
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The midfielder joined the Nile Crocodiles from Nigerian side Lobi Stars on a free transfer in October 2022.
When the 2022/23 season came to an end, Aswan were relegated to the second tier of Egyptian football, which marked the beginning of a forgettable period in the Nigerian's footballing career.
After being relegated, the club was said to have forced the player in to signing a document in Arabic, a language the 26-year-old did not understand.
Following his refusal to do so, it is claimed an official then kept him against his will and physically attacked the player, resulting in injuries to his chest, arm and knee.
"A lot of thoughts were going through my head: Am I going to come out safe? Is this going to be the end of me?" he said, per FIFPRO's official website.
"At one point, I called my family and told them: 'If I don't come out alive, you should know that this is where my corpse will be'."
Ayagwa also revealed that the side demanded that he hand over his passport during the closing stages of the season, with his phone and other belongings also said to have been confiscated.
"They kept on demanding my passport, which I thought was strange because the season was almost over – it wasn't as if we were playing in any international competitions and needed it for travel," he continued.
"After our last game, the club issued return tickets to players to go back to Cairo. They refused to give me my return ticket and did the same with an Angolan teammate."
Ayagwa later managed to find a way out of the country, with his agent booking him a flight back to Nigeria. As soon as he returned his homeland, the player terminated his contract with the second-tier Egyptian club.
The matter was then taken to the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), where it was ruled that the midfielder receive all of his unpaid wages with compensation for the early termination of his contract.
Aswan were also banned from signing new players for two transfer windows.
"While I got the justice that I wished for, I also feel disheartened in the sense that those people are still at Aswan; I felt FIFA should have done something to ensure they can no longer work in the football sector," Ayagwa added.
"When people like that are allowed to stay in football, they can do to others again what they did to me."
Read: Club provides update after African star's shock on-field collapse
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