As Russia 2018 winds to a close on Sunday, about 200 Nigerians may not have good stories to share, at least for now.

Having gone to Europe to cheer their country and/or hunt for lucrative jobs, including playing pro football, their lives have taken a downside.

With no money and no visa, they do not have anything to cheer on both fronts.

Tricked by scammers, Fans ID, a travel document issued by the government to those travelling to for World Cup, is their only hope of returning home.

“I paid a lot of money down here,” one Nigerian told DW’s Miodrag Soric. “But I don’t want to stay. I don’t have a plan because I know my Fan ID card cannot allow me to stay more than July 25. And I don’t want to go against the Russian.”

Two brothers Ismail and Sodiq Olamilekan said they N250,000 naira each to a man in Lagos for their Fan IDs. They planned to become professional footballers in Russia. Others paid over a million naira for the document.

“The man told us that with the Fan ID we could get a job and stay here,” Ismail told AFP at a hostel on the outskirts of Moscow, where a kind Muslim man provided shelter.

“But when we got here we discovered that it was a fraud, that he had just collected the money and lied to us.”

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