According to Olympiacos striker Brown Ideye, superstitious players are paying thousands of pounds to witchdoctors in a bid to take their game to the next level and break injury curses.
The Nigeria international, who left West Brom earlier this month, said: “I know players who get involved with the Juju men and they can’t get out. It’s a trap. They might get short-term benefits, but in the long run they pay for it. Juju men have a lot of influence.
“If things like that worked then instead of Messi and Ronaldo winning world player of the year it should be some African players.
“I would advise players not to follow this route but it’s their choice, I can’t stop them.”
Marabout Degla, a Juju man based in Benin, described what a player will have to do while undertaking a ritual.
He said: “During it’s nine days you cannot sleep with a woman and you should cover yourself with a white loincloth while you sleep at night.”
Degla then claimed players could wear an “magic ring” that allowed them to “dominate playing partners and opponents during every competition you take part in.”
A wife of a Premier League player claimed her husband pays “£1,000 a month” to a witchdoctor in Ivory Coast and that the Juju man “is more important than the manager of the club.”
She added: “My husband has gone back to his village several times to be cleansed. He excuses himself from his club at the drop of a hat when the Juju man comes calling.
“The Juju man might ask him to bring a sacrifice — a spotless white goat, lamb or chicken — which would be slaughtered and then various oaths are made.”
Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor stated earlier this year that his family used black magic against him to ruin his football career.