“Football and Freedom”: a tournament to promote the integration of refugees in Kraainem

By Kenza Amezza, Communications Assistant, Think Tank Sport and Citizenship

On Saturday 1 June, Kraainem Football Club organised the seventh Football and Freedom tournament. This event, supported by the municipality and the Think Tank Sport and Citizenship, celebrates social inclusion through sport and brought together over 200 young refugees.

Kraainem Football Club: between values, actions and support from the municipality

Since September 2015, Kraainem Football Club has provided a place for cultural diversity. As part of the “We Welcome Young Refugees” initiative, the club is organising the 7th “Football and Freedom” football tournament supported by the Think Tank Sport and Citizenship. This unique project has welcomed 4,000 foreigners to Kraainem since 2021 including 60 Ukrainian women survivors of the war. The municipality of Kraainem actively supports this project. In particular its mayor Bertrand Waucquez: “All cultures have something interesting to contribute, and it is in this spirit that the initiative of Mr Thieule’s Kraainem Football Club is so important. It helps to integrate people who, without it, would probably not have had other opportunities to meet, play sport and think about other things.” In addition to sport, the Kraainem Football Club offers a range of integration tools, including exchanges, training courses and other courses.

Sport as a tool for social inclusion

The refugee tournament shows that football is a powerful vehicle for social inclusion. It is a place where everyone wears the jersey of equality and competes around a common goal: victory. Laurent Thieule, honorary president of Sport and Citizenship, was keen to point out that: “Sport has a key role to play as a social facilitator, in particular enabling homeless people to find a social footing in their host country. Sport is a universal language that facilitates integration for all. This universal language brings people together and has even led to the professional advancement of some foreigners in Kraainem. As Bertrand Waucquez points out: “I think there are several examples of people who have been involved in this wonderful project for a long time and who are now part of the management teams, managing people in situations that they themselves have experienced before. That’s why this kind of project is so important and essential.” Sport, as a place for mixing and an outlet, demonstrated the importance of its societal role during the seventh edition of the Refugee Tournament.

A look back at the refugees’ tournament

When Sport and Citizenship arrived at midday, the mixed teams had already been in place since early morning. All the volunteers were hard at work: some at the stands, others in the changing rooms or distributing sandwiches to reward the young players. At around 1pm, the European Commission made their entrance and the Sport and Citizenship team joined them for a friendly match. At the same time, the young people accommodated in the Fedasil and Croix-Rouge reception centers continued to compete until the end of the tournament at 4pm. This was followed by a medal ceremony to reward the teams for their exemplary football skills. Bertrand Waucquez said: “Until now, I’ve always had the honor of kicking off. I’ve been impressed by the extraordinary fairness of this event. The leitmotif and hallmark of the tournament is to ban racism in sport. Laurent Thieule added: “It was great, we welcomed over 200 unaccompanied minors, both boys and girls. The tournament lives up to its name (ed. note: Football and Freedom), these young people were deprived of freedom, football gives them some.” On Saturday 1ᵉʳ June, all the lights were green for FC Kraainem, who once again delivered on the promise of an exceptional event.