Yemen's ‘Refugees United’ football team won its football match against Ahly Sana'a

Refugees United consists of 8 Somalis, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Eritrean and 1 Iraqi who were selected in order to represent the refugee community in Yemen.

As part of the events in the build up to World Refugee Day, celebrated
on June 20th, UNHCR, the UN’s Refugee Agency, organized a football match between a newly created ‘Refugees United’ football team and the Al Ahly under 17s team. The big match was played last Thursday with a victory for Refugees United who won following a breathtaking penalty shoot out after a 3-3 draw!

The achievement was particularly impressive given that the Refugees United team had been training for just three weeks and this was their first ever match. Their team consisted of 8 Somalis, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Eritrean and 1 Iraqi who were selected in order to represent the refugee community in Yemen, the majority of refugees being Somali, followed by the other nationalities. After an early first goal by al-Ahly, Flimon Razani from Eritrea evened the score with a goal for Refugees United. Al-Ahly came back with another goal and Mubarak Obaid from Somalia evened the score before half time.

The same scorer put another ball in the back of the net before al-Ahly brought the score up to 3-3, raising the temperature of the stadium before the final whistle was blown. The crowd went wild when Abdurazaq Mahmoud Osman from Somalia scored the final penalty, sealing the victory for Refugees United. The atmosphere was electric!

The event was attended by the Chairman of the National Sub Committee for Refugee Affairs, Ambassador Mohamed al Shami, and UNHCR Deputy Representative, Nabil Othman, as well as a very enthusiastic crowd of Yemenis, refugees and other foreigners. It was a great afternoon, enjoyed by all. This is not the end of Refugees United, however – they have been invited to play against the under 19s al-Ahly team next month as well as in the Ramadan Tournament during the coming Ramadan. So if you didn’t catch them this time, watch this space to find out when and where this up and coming team’s next match will be played!

Refugees are among the most vulnerable people on earth and the world will remember them on 20th June, World Refugee Day.

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