{"id":4302,"date":"2018-11-30T09:49:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T08:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sboverseas.org\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2018-11-30T09:49:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T08:49:46","slug":"friendly-football-match-refugee-youth-vs-university-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sboverseas.org\/nl\/friendly-football-match-refugee-youth-vs-university-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendly football match: Refugee youth vs University students"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Brussels Express<\/a> on 14 November. Written by Niki Papadogiannakis.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the best football match in my life ever,\u201d an ecstatic rain-drenched goalkeeper exclaimed to the group gathered on a pitch.<\/p>\n

It was a brisk Brussels Sunday afternoon in Ixelles, where the refugee youth from the Red Cross Centre in Uccle (whom SB Espoir works with every weekend) were playing their first full-pitch match against graduate students from the Brussels School of International Studies (BSIS), the university that I attend for my master\u2019s studies.<\/p>\n

The friendly game had just ended, after a round of penalties by a group of boys who played all together for the first time \u2014 and not even heavy downpour of rain could break their enthusiasm as the game finished and victory needed to be celebrated.<\/p>\n

But it was not only a victory on the scoreboard. The match itself was a victory: playing with their peers from the center, whom they know very well, against a group who all share the same passion \u2013 football.<\/p>\n

This sentiment was evident as soon as the game ended, when players from both teams were hugging, chanting, celebrating the moment. Of course, it helped that the youth won, in a very fair and challenging match up \u2014the game ended on a tie and was settled after penalty shots declared the SB Espoir youth the victors.<\/p>\n

For many of the youth, football is a major passion in their life. It\u2019s something at they know very well and culturally it\u2019s pervasive around the world. Whether you\u2019re from Belgium, Eritrea, Italy, Afghanistan, Norway or Syria, cultures that are seemingly so different, football is the common thread.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why at SB Espoir, we organized this football match knowing that many of the youth at the center have this passion and wanted to give them an opportunity to play against a group that not only are football fanatics, but also come from many places around the world who are in Brussels for their studies.<\/p>\n

One of the university students from India found a common language with one of the youth, the student speaking Hindi and the youth Urdu \u2013 this surprised the youth when he learned that India has over 20 languages and he could speak and understand one although he himself was not from India.<\/p>\n

As UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said while he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, \u201csport is an amazing way to break down barriers and build bridges between communities. It gives young people a sense of self worth and focus and lets them set aside cultural differences in a constructive non-violent way.\u201d<\/p>\n