A footballer set to play in the upcoming World Cup has been accused of sexually harassing a 14-year-old British girl at a hotel in Turkey, according to a report Monday in the Daily Mail.
The girl’s father told the British newspaper that he and several relatives had gone to buy ice cream, leaving the girl and another child on sun loungers by the pool. “We were getting ice cream when my partner's phone rang and it was my daughter crying her eyes out," he said. "She asked us to hurry up and come to the pool."
When the alarmed parents returned, the girl told them that the well-known footballer had approached her. Excited to meet a celebrity, she asked him for a selfie. According to her account, the player then took her phone, typed in his Instagram account details and sent himself a message from her profile so he could remain in contact.
He then allegedly asked her age. After she told him she was only 14, the player began making inappropriate comments, calling her “hot” and asking for a "cuddle".
When the girl refused, the footballer allegedly persisted and urged her to come with him behind a fence near the pool, to “a place where no one could see us.” The girl replied that her father was on his way back, at which point the player backed off and moved to the other side of the pool, according to the report.
The father said he immediately contacted hotel management and demanded an explanation. He later received a call from the reception desk and was summoned to a meeting with the national team’s coach and staff members, who apologized to him.
The father rejected the apology. “I don’t want an apology from you,” he told them, according to the report. “I want to confront the player over the fact that he is harassing young girls.” Team staff reportedly promised that the player would apologize in person and be removed from the hotel immediately.
At the same time, the father’s partner discovered that the family was not alone. She met another British mother at the resort who said her 15-year-old daughter had also received inappropriate approaches and comments from the same player.
“We tried to persuade her to go with us to the local police,” the father said, “but she refused, saying she believed nothing would come of it because, in her opinion, this was part of their culture of behavior.”
The following morning, the family said they were deeply disappointed to discover that the player had not been removed from the hotel and was still staying there as usual, while denying the allegations.
The footballer reportedly told hotel staff that the girl had merely asked to take a photo with him and that nothing inappropriate had happened. When the father demanded that the hotel provide security camera footage, he was told there were no CCTV cameras covering the area in question.
The father accused the resort of covering up the incident and prioritizing the football team’s interests. “I felt the hotel prioritised them," he said. There was no security in place for anything like that, and because of the football team's profile it seemed they were being treated differently. It felt like they could get away with what they wanted."