A football coach in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who received a 20-year ban from Fifa for sexual abuse of a minor has been found still working with young players, according to an investigation by the Guardian.
Jonathan Bukabakwa, widely known by the nickname Messi, was banned by football's governing body in March 2023 and fined 100,000 Swiss francs after a Fifa inquiry concluded he was guilty of sexually abusing a minor. He had previously coached youth teams in the Limpopo and Malabo regions and had also faced a criminal conviction for similar offences within the DRC, though he was released from prison last year. Bukabakwa denies the allegations against him.
Despite the ban, footage reviewed by the Guardian shows Bukabakwa coaching a group of young players at Esperanto, a football club situated in the Limete district of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. Multiple local sources say he has been repeatedly seen leading training sessions for youngsters on a school field in the area.
"Messi? He's still coaching, you can easily meet him with his team. He doesn't hide," one local source told the Guardian, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Esperanto has not responded to requests for comment. When approached directly, Bukabakwa did not dispute that he continues to coach young athletes, but claimed to be unaware that Fifa had ever imposed a ban on him. "They never told me anything," he said. "They never questioned me or sent me anything."
Fifa has not responded to a request for comment on the matter. In its original 2023 statement announcing the ban, the organization said the decision reflected its "zero tolerance approach to all forms of abuse in football" and noted that it had "regularly updated its regulatory framework in recent years to provide greater protection to victims of discrimination and sexual abuse or harassment."
The revelation has renewed scrutiny of gaps in Fifa's safeguarding mechanisms and how bans are monitored and enforced at the grassroots level. Following contact from the Guardian, Véron Mosengo-Omba, president of the Congolese football federation Fecofa, has reportedly called both Bukabakwa and the president of Esperanto to a meeting.
"We have zero tolerance for this kind of behaviour," Mosengo-Omba said in a statement. "We will punish anyone involved in this kind of conduct."
Bukabakwa was among six coaches provisionally suspended by Fecofa in late 2022 after a wave of sexual abuse allegations surfaced in Congolese media. Another of those coaches, Donga Epapa Cédric, was dismissed by his club JMK following claims he had solicited explicit images from a player, allegations he has denied. However, an investigation into all six coaches ultimately resulted in no disciplinary action from either Fecofa or Fifa, with officials citing insufficient evidence at the time.
Mosengo-Omba, who took over as Fecofa president in May after previously serving as general secretary of the Confederation of African Football, has pledged to revisit these earlier cases once a functioning disciplinary committee is reinstated. The federation had operated under a Fifa-appointed normalisation committee from 2023 until his election.
"We will make sure that no one who is behaving like this will be involved in football in this country," Mosengo-Omba said. "It's an absolute priority for us. You cannot accept your country's name being linked with this kind of behaviour."
Based on reporting from The Guardian.