How football can help displaced people 'heal, develop and grow'

Goal Click Refugees is a photo and text series that gives unheard voices a platform to share their experiences of displacement through the language of football.

Image source, Maram

Image caption, A girls' football team run by the UNICEF Makani programme in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan

Created by the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) and Goal Click (a football story-telling and photo project), the new series aims to raise awareness of the rising levels of forced displacement.

Photos and stories have been collected from 25 participants across five continents, for World Refugee Day on 20 June. They've come from refugee camps in Jordan, Kenya and South Sudan, and from football fields from London to Sydney.

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Image source, Abdelrahman Hasan al Attar

Image caption, Children play football in the neighbourhood of Hashem Shemali, in East Amman, Jordan. Many in the area have Palestinian heritage

Each participant was given a disposable film camera to capture the realities of their football lives and communities.

Image source, Mahmoud

Image caption, A player on a football field outside Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan

Image source, David Philip

Image caption, Children helped by the Green Kordofan charity in Yida refugee camp in South Sudan

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The photos and stories show how football helped the refugees and asylum seekers find their feet and rebuild their lives in new societies after the trauma and confusion of displacement.

Image source, Sadio Malang

Image caption, Senza Frontiere Football Club, formed by refugees and asylum seekers, in Turin, Italy, at the Balon Mundial, the World Cup of Migrant Communities

"For young men and women uprooted by war or persecution, sport is much more than a leisure activity," said Dominique Hyde, global head of External Relations at UNHCR.

"[Sport is] an opportunity to be included and protected - a chance to heal, develop and grow."

Image source, Daniele

Image caption, TuS Koblenz, a team playing in the fifth division in Germany, formed a team for refugees living in Koblenz, to give them the chance to integrate into German society and establish a new life

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Founder of Goal Click, Matthew Barrett, added: "This series aims to challenge existing stereotypes and give an intimate look into refugees' football lives, in a way that no-one from outside these communities could do."

Image source, Yvan Bikambo

Image caption, Refugee children train at the Public School of Bindia in East Cameroon - organised by Red Deporte, an NGO which uses football to improve school performance and health.

Image source, Saleha Kashfi

Image caption, Kicken ohne Grenzen football club in Vienna, Austria. Team Birkenwiese is made up of refugee girls who play once a week.

Image source, Sofia

Image caption, Team Austria at the 2019 Homeless World Cup in Cardiff, Wales.

Image source, Samuel Gedeon

Image caption, RIFA (Rooklyn International Football Association) is an organisation based in Brooklyn, New York City, which uses soccer to work with refugees and asylum seekers.

Image source, Maram

Image caption, Girls play football at Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan.

Goal Click Refugees is a year-long campaign that will culminate in a physical photo exhibition.

All photographs courtesy and