Benin Camp Chaos: Economy Flights and Broken Promises Shadow Messi's Farewell

Benin's players landed in Buenos Aires exhausted from a 23-hour economy flight to find cold water, missing kit and a half-built gym — days after Burkina Faso's own travel scandal. Messi's farewell is two days away, and the organizers are under fire.

What Benin walked into

On the eve of the biggest match in their history, Benin's players are still feeling the journey. Their trip to Buenos Aires took 23 hours in economy class, according to Beninese outlet Mégasport — reporting picked up by Le Figaro and Goal.com on Sunday. Along the way, video analyst Jonas Bidé fainted mid-journey.

The ordeal did not end at the airport. At the team hotel, Mégasport reported there was no hot water on the fourth floor where the squad was housed. Kit manager supplies and equipment had not arrived, forcing staff to buy footballs locally in Buenos Aires. At the training base, the picture was no better: a synthetic pitch deemed unsuitable for the world champions' guests, a gym with just two exercise bikes and two treadmills, and a sauna out of service. Three squad members — Junior Olaitan of Beşiktaş, Charlemagne Azongnitodé of TPS and Saïd Ngobi of VPS — had still not joined the camp and were expected to arrive only 24 hours before kick-off.

By Sunday, Le Figaro noted the situation seemed to have returned to normal, but described Benin's preparation as 'truncated' — hardly ideal days before facing the world champions in front of around 85,000 people.

'Where does the money go?'

The sharpest question hanging over the farewell week is financial. Joueurs Africains reported on September 16 that Benin will receive no appearance fee for the friendly — and that all ticketing, TV and sponsorship revenue stays exclusively with the Argentine organizers. That claim, for now reported by a single outlet, has supercharged Goal.com's framing of the saga: 'economy travel, dilapidated hotels and problems of every kind. Who gets the money?'

Tickets for the farewell sold out in under two hours, with the most expensive seats reportedly changing hands at several hundred dollars. Against that backdrop, two visiting African federations in a single week have been handed budget travel and threadbare facilities. The reputational damage, notably, attaches to the organizers rather than to Messi: nothing in the reporting suggests the captain had any hand in the logistics.

Benin's federation has not publicly accused anyone; the camp's problems were reported by Beninese media rather than through named officials. But the pattern, coming days after the Burkina Faso affair, is impossible to ignore.

The Burkina Faso scandal that came first

Benin's troubles are the sequel to a genuine scandal. Burkina Faso's delegation was due to fly from Casablanca to Buenos Aires on September 30 for their October 3 friendly with Argentina. Their charter flight was cancelled — the Burkinabé federation blamed a sudden cancellation by the airline.

Argentine outlet Olé reported the deeper story: players refused the long commercial flight — the same kind of flight the Benin team later accepted — demanding a private charter and a financial bonus. Unlike Mauritania, which had secured a charter for its own trip in March, the Burkina deal reportedly covered only travel and accommodation, with no match fee and no revenue share.

The Burkinabé government intervened directly: sports minister Annick Ouattara, federation president Omar Souadogo and ambassador Mamadou Koulibaly worked through the night on a solution. An emergency private flight finally left Casablanca on Friday evening for a 24-hour transatlantic journey.

What arrived in Buenos Aires was not the Burkina Faso anyone expected. Several senior players refused to travel — investigative journalist Romain Molina reported that 'some players have left the camp and will not be making the trip due to organisational issues and certain financial matters.' Burkina24 reported that of the senior squad, only Cheick Bebel Doumbia made the trip; coach Amir Abdou fielded a largely U-23/A' side hastily assembled after their Monday friendly against Mali was cancelled.

The main delegation landed around five hours before kick-off, the younger group about three hours before. Scaloni's side, meanwhile, had spent the week preparing properly. The result was a 7-0 demolition — Lautaro Martínez, Prestianni, Nico Paz, Julián Álvarez, Mastantuono, Giuliano Simeone on the scoresheet alongside a Moumouni Diallo own goal. Whether the match counts as a full FIFA 'Class A' international, given the youthfulness of the visitors, remains unresolved.

Benin's defiant public face

For all the chaos around them, Benin's public posture has been professional — and even proud. Coach Gernot Rohr, who has managed Bayern Munich, Nigeria and now the Cheetahs, struck a defiant note to Reuters on October 1: 'We're going to have a bit of a party with Messi. But we'll still try to play the role of party poopers a little, because that also gives us some enjoyment. We're not going there to concede a lot of goals.'

Captain Steve Mounie framed the occasion as historic in an ESPN Argentina interview: 'Being able to participate in this match is an extremely rare opportunity. To play in Messi's farewell national team match is historic for us. For the Benin team, this is also the first time in our history that we've played against a team from outside Africa. And it's an away game in Argentina, against the world champions, against Messi, in an unparalleled football atmosphere. This is a historic moment for Benin football.'

It is Benin's first meeting with Argentina at senior level — and the first time the Cheetahs have faced any non-African side. Ranked 89th in the world against Argentina's No. 2, they were already long shots; with truncated preparation, the task looks monumental.

What it means for Tuesday night

The match itself is not in doubt. Benin are in Buenos Aires, training, and Tuesday's friendly remains on schedule as Messi's 208th and final Argentina cap. Lionel Scaloni struck the right emotional note after the Burkina Faso win: 'I imagine Tuesday's match will be very emotional for everyone, including Leo. It will be an unforgettable day. It will be his day, and his team-mates' day, who also gave him his greatest footballing joy.'

But the farewell week will now be remembered for more than the celebration. Two African federations received economy treatment while Argentina banked the revenue from sold-out stadiums; AS Roma has blocked Paulo Dybala and Nahuel Molina from making the trip, citing 'sporting and logistical reasons' — with the club wary of two intercontinental flights days before their Serie A return against Como on October 11. Neither would have played anyway: Dybala was left out of Scaloni's squad for the window, and Molina is serving a seven-match international ban. For an event meant to honor the greatest player of his generation, the logistics have become an unwelcome subplot — and the questions about who profits from the Messi farewell will not disappear when the final whistle blows.

Tuesday is now a double farewell. Nicolás Otamendi — 139 caps, retired in July after the World Cup final — was recalled specifically for the Benin match, and nearly 85,000 people will watch him take his bow alongside Messi. The chaos around the week has been real; the occasion, for one night at least, promises to rise above it.

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All of our farewell coverage is on Argentina vs Benin.