REPLAY – Refugee Play United

REPLAY – Refugee Play United

‘Refugee PLAY United’ is an innovative project that uses sport to help young refugees integrate into Italian communities, by tackling the barriers they face in accessing sporting activities and building relationships with local young people against a backdrop of increasing migration.


REPLAY – Refugees PLAY United

Led by PLAY International, Sport et Citoyenneté and Liberi Nantes, this project offers sports clubs a practical guide to integrating displaced young people into their activities.

The REPLAY project is set against a backdrop where more and more young people are being forced to leave their countries and, once they arrive in Europe, are looking for places where they can rebuild their lives. Sport plays a central role in this regard: it offers a stable, communal and safe environment, conducive to building relationships and establishing a sense of belonging. In collaboration with Italian clubs, REPLAY explores in practical terms how football and other sports can become powerful tools for integration, capable of reducing isolation, promoting self-confidence and strengthening a sense of belonging.

The project also highlights the challenges faced by clubs: a lack of resources, administrative complexity, a lack of specific training and difficulties in recruiting volunteers. By bringing together stakeholders from the worlds of sport, social services and education, REPLAY demonstrates that a collective and coordinated approach can turn these obstacles into opportunities.

  • New toos

    To develop innovative teaching tools and train sports coaches in order to create an inclusive environment where young refugees can flourish socially and personally through physical activities.

  • Advocacy

    To influence European public policy with a view to improving refugees’ access to sport by developing bespoke sports licences.

Ressources

News

FUNDERS

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of t


PARTNERS

Play International is an international NGO that uses the power of sport and play as tools for education, social inclusion and peace-building within vulnerable communities.

Liberi Nantes is an Italian sports club that promotes social inclusion by welcoming refugees and migrants, using football as a space for dignity, a sense of belonging and community building.

Sport and Citizenship was founded in 2007, shortly after the adoption of the European Commission’s White Paper on Sport. It is the first and only European think tank working on the analysis of sports policies and the study of the societal impact of sport.

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