How did 25 Cape Town teens leave SA on one-way tickets to Europe?
A group of 25 schoolchildren from Cape Town were left stranded in Europe after travelling to Spain on one-way tickets for an international soccer tournament - with no confirmed return flight home.
The young players, aged between 13 and 18, represented BT Football Academy, a Cape Town-based youth development club, at the Donosti Cup 2025 in San Sebastián, Spain.
While they were scheduled to return home on July 15, it was soon discovered that their tickets only covered the outbound journey.
This left the children stranded in Portugal, reportedly with no food, accommodation, or funds to secure their return to South Africa.
This left many of us wondering how exactly this happened
The tickets were allegedly booked by the club's founder, Brandon Timmy, who is said to have purchased the one-way flights at Cape Town International airport. Timmy also operates his own travel company, BT Travel - which means that he has knowledge of loopholes in the system that most travellers are not aware of.
While Timmy and his wife returned to South Africa on their return tickets, the children were left behind in Europe, prompting concerns and confusion over how such a trip was allowed to proceed without proper travel documentation.
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