Soccer helps give refugees and others a sense of belonging

Central Athens is home to people from many different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, but if there is one big love that unites many of them, it's soccer. The popularity of the beautiful game remains undiminished across the world and participation in a team has proven benefits by promoting a sense of belonging to a greater whole, a sentiment that is even more important for people like migrants who have not yet developed a strong attachment to their place of residence.

Creating this sense of belonging and camaraderie was the driving force behind Umoja-Enosi, the first pan-African soccer team in Greece, created in 2019 with the support of the Greek branch of Service Civil International (SCI) in downtown Patissia. The team has 20 members, all young men from different parts of Africa, who are either asylum seekers, recognized refugees or second-generation migrants born...