The Valladolid team coach had left Ceuta after a 1-1 Segunda División draw when an extraordinary and dangerous journey came to light: a 17-year-old Moroccan boy had travelled beneath the vehicle from the Spanish enclave towards the mainland.
The teenager had concealed himself near the rear wheels of the bus after Valladolid’s sixth-round Liga2 match against AD Ceuta at the Alfonso-Murube Stadium. He remained there through the ferry crossing from Ceuta and for more than 100 kilometres on the road in the Iberian Peninsula.
He was eventually found curled up beneath the coach during a stop at a service area, having asked for help. Valladolid’s travelling party took care of the minor, providing food, water and clothing before the Civil Guard arrived and assumed responsibility for him.
A perilous route out of Ceuta
The incident is another example of migrants attempting to reach mainland Spain by hiding in or beneath vehicles leaving Ceuta, one of Spain’s two North African enclaves. Similar cases have been recorded by Spanish authorities in recent years.
It comes amid a wider migration crisis in Ceuta, which has been politically and diplomatically sensitive since late July after more than 70,000 migrants from Morocco entered the enclave. For Valladolid, a routine away trip in Spain’s second tier ended with a stark reminder of the human reality surrounding one of European football’s most unusual travelling routes.
