FOOTBALL: MORE THAN A SPORT : What is the impact that football can make in the social integration of refugees?

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FOOTBALL: MORE THAN A SPORT

What is the impact that football can make in the social

integration of refugees?

Petros Pallas

19930913T531

International Migration and Ethnic Relations

One-Year Master’s Thesis (IM636L)

15.0 Credits

Winter Semester / January 2021

Supervisor: Anne Sofie Roald

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ABSTRACT

The author of this study investigates the contribution that football projects can make to the social integration process of the refugees. While the number of the refugees keeps growing throughout the last years, for some of them social integration and prejudiced attitudes are some of the problems that they have to face. However, the development of football projects is an attempt to give a solution to this kind of problems. Thus, this qualitative study examines if football projects can have an impact on the refugees’ social integration, as well as whether they can lead to the reduction of prejudiced attitudes. The data, collected from eight interviews from refugees that participated in football projects, is analyzed under the concepts of social integration, social and human capital, and intergroup contact. The findings indicate that football projects can have a positive impact on the refugees’ social and human capital, as these projects can lead to the development of social bonds and social bridges, as well as the increase of language skills and job opportunities. All of these factors are strongly linked with the social integration, and they have a positive effect on it. Moreover, as prejudiced attitudes towards refugees are becoming a common phenomenon, whether prejudice can be reduced through the intergroup contact that is attained in the football projects, is a topic that is going to be examined.

Keywords: refugees, football projects, social integration, social capital, human capital, intergroup contact, prejudice

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1. Introduction

As one of the most popular sport in the world, football has to a great extent the ability to approach the human masses in a way that no other sport has done. It is not by chance that it is called “the opium of the people” (Football, the people’s opium 2008). Despite the numerous rivalries and the incidents of violence between football clubs and fans that may arise to someone’s mind when this sport is mentioned, football was often a way of uniting and reconciling people rather than separating them, even during hard periods for the human kind, such as wars. Ever since the ancient years and the Olympic truce or ekecheiria between the ancient Greek cities during the Olympic games, or the Christmas truce during the Great War in 1914 and the football games played between the German and the British troops, football is often a tool to pacify hostile communities (Sugden 2010, p. 259).

Hostile communities exist all over the world, and, while the migration and refugee ‘crisis’ has reached its apogee the last years (Migration Data Portal 2019; UNHCR 2020), these communities continue to multiply, as an aftereffect of the resettlements of numerous of ethnic minorities inside Europe. Unfortunately, the examples of hostile behaviors, especially towards refugees, are countless (ANSA 2019; Schülke-Gill & Bayer 2020), and for some of them integration becomes a ‘steep path’. As Nash et al. (2006, p. 345) mention, “as refugees seek integration in their country of adoption, they often join the poor and oppressed in an ongoing struggle for genuine inclusion”. While most of the refugees seek for refuge in nearby countries, these countries are usually not economically equipped and capable of absorbing the weight of these movements (UNHCR 2017). That factor, plus some other socio-psychological factors, like conservative and ethnocentric perceptions against migration, the fear of the alteration of the national identity, or the idea that migrants are a threat to the receiving country, lead to prejudiced attitudes against them (Deslandes & Anderson 2019).

However, as governmental -and non- organizations are attempting to integrate minorities into their societies and reduce the prejudices towards them, football might be a pioneering method of attaining that. As Nelson Mandela said during the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2000: “Football has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” (Laureus World Sports Awards 2000). Inspired by Nelson Mandela’s speech,

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firstly, I will attempt to examine if football can contribute to the social integration of refugees into their new host societies, and additionally, if football can reduce potential prejudiced attitudes.

To achieve that, I will conduct five interviews with refugees that participated in football projects established in Greece, whose goal is to facilitate refugees’ integration process in their host country. I will also use the data from three interviews conducted during the 2018 conference ‘Get in the Game – Promoting social integration through football-based programmes’, whose purpose was to know about how the refugees benefited from these football programmes.

2. Aim and Research Questions

The aim with this study is to examine if football projects can make an impact on the social integration process of refugees. To achieve this aim, I will investigate, through the participants’ point of view, if these football projects have contributed to the refugees’ integration into their new society and in which way. Consequently, the study is formulated based on the following research questions:

•_{Do football projects have an impact on refugees integration into the host society,} and, if so, in what way?

•_{What is the role of social and human capital in their integration process?} In addition, I will investigate if the participants believe that intergroup contact through football has reduced prejudice towards them. Thus, the study will attempt to give an answer to the following question as well:

• Do the participants feel that intergroup contact through football projects have led to the reduction of prejudice towards them?

3. Delimitations

The study is examining the integration process of people who fled their countries as asylum seekers, applied for a refugee status in their new host countries, and eventually officially recognized as refugees. Although refugees may share a lot of common

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characteristics with immigrants in general, the result of the study should not be generalized and the findings should not be applied to different minority groups, although some of them may be applicable. Moreover, the refugees that took part in the interviews are residing in EU since 2011 and afterwards. Data is drawn from three different EU countries, Greece, Germany and Hungary; thus, the findings of this study can only be applied to an EU background, and not worldwide.

The issue of prejudice that is going to be examined, will be investigated only from the refugees’ perspective. That is because it was difficult to find and contact locals who participated in these football projects, mainly because the number of participants was not efficient to give a complete result. However, it is still important to examine and analyze what the refugees believe regarding this specific issue.

4. Structure of the Thesis

First of all, this thesis will briefly present some contextual background information about the organizations and the football projects created to facilitate the social integration of the refugees, as well as some reports about the progress of these projects until now. Next, some academic studies about the utility and the evaluation of the football projects will be thoroughly examined in the ‘previous literature’ section. Afterwards, the concepts of social integration, social and human capital, and intergroup contact will be displayed in the ‘theory’ part. Next, the methods and the materials that are going to be used will be presented in the methodology part, and, finally, the analysis and a conclusion will complete the form of this study.

5. Contextual Background

There are over 257 million of migrants worldwide and the number is increasing gradually since 1990 (United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Division 2017). The number of migrants in Europe is estimated to be approximately 77 million and this of the refugees 29 million (Migration Data Portal 2019). Consequently, a high percentage of this number faces difficulties with getting integrated into new societies, as the integration process can be a “controversial and hotly debated” issue (Castles et al., citied in Ager & Strang 2008).

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Moreover, prejudicial attitudes towards refugees is another difficulty that they are encountering. According to Schweitzer et al. (2005), it is more likely for the refugees to experience prejudicial attitudes in their host countries, rather than people who arrive in as immigrants. The reasons of these prejudicial attitudes can be explained by four threats that cause them. Realistic threats, symbolic threats, intergroup anxiety and negative stereotypes (p. 171). Realistic threat can be one of the main causes of prejudice, as it pertains to the threat of important resources, like land and jobs, but also social status, economic and health welfare of the ingroup. Symbolic threat can also shape the ingroup’s attitudes towards refugees, as it refers to the threat of ethnic customs and traditions, as well as values, norms and beliefs. The feeling that these elements are threatened can lead to the development and expression of prejudice (p. 172). Moreover, intergroup anxiety can be produced by antagonism, prior negative contact or dissimilarity between the ingroup and outgroup members. Thus, these factors can create anxiety and, thereafter, prejudice. However, that does not prove that intergroup anxiety and prejudice are interrelated. Finally, negative stereotypes are “implied threats posed by the outgroup to ingroup members as they are related to expectations concerning the outgroup members’ behavior” (Stephan et al., citied in Schweitzer et al. 2005, p. 172). In other words, if the ingroup members identify the outgroup members as “aggressive, dishonest and unintelligent”, then it is rational to have negative attitudes towards them. Thus, negative stereotypes can lead to negative attitudes and, therefore, to prejudiced attitudes towards the outgroup.

Nevertheless, governments and NGOs in Europe have started creating projects in order to help refugees integrate into their new societies and reduce the prejudice towards them. As a matter of fact, many of these projects include sport activities, as that kind of activities is believed to bring people closer in an easier way. That is the main idea around these sport projects, that the intergroup contact between minority groups and members of the host societies can reduce prejudice and lead to integration (Katz 1991). It is a fact that these kind of football projects keep increasing all over Europe. At the present, there are over 12 organisations1_{, either smaller or bigger, and over 84 football} clubs and football associations (EFDN 2019) all over Europe, whose main purposes are to foster inter-community cohesion between youths of different nationalities and the

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host community, encourage local communities to work together to create a more welcoming environment for refugees, provide the young people not only with a fun, safe environment to play football and learn new skills, but also a sense of acceptance, understanding and love, bring together people from different backgrounds to play, watch and enjoy the game, and promote the power of football as a tool for social development and inclusion (ISCA 2018).

Two of these projects are located in Greece. Football Project X and Football Project Y are two football programs that were created to help with refugees’ integration process. Their names will remain anonymous, as some participants from these projects were interviewed by me, in order to gather some data about how these projects work and what are the participants’ feelings about them. Football Project X was created by a Greek NGO located in Thessaloniki, in order to organize sports events for refugees, every once per month, in order to help them integrate more easily into their new society. These events take place in the training fields around the ‘Kaftanzogleio National Stadium’ in Thessaloniki. Their motto ‘Building community through sports’ describes their aim, as the creators wanted to design a safe environment for refugees to be able to relax, socialize, and play together, regardless of their sporting abilities and skills. Moreover, Football Project Y is a creation of an NGO in Athens, Greece. It is about a refugee football team, which takes part in the amateur Greek football leagues. The aim of this team is the social integration and inclusion of the refugees through football, and the establishment of a communication channel between locals and refugees. Over 180 refugees from 22 different countries have participated in the football matches and trainings so far.

There is also a report, co-funded by the European Union, called ‘Get in the game – Promoting social integration through football-based programmes’ (Ginzel 2019). This report exhibits football-based programmes from all over the world and it promotes how these programmes can be an innovative way to tackle the European migration crisis. It also describes the training methods that these programmes use, the challenges that they face, as well as their outcomes. Finally, the report presents three stories from the field, by interviewing three male refugees about their experiences from participating in football-based programmes.

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Nevertheless, the development of these football projects is still under examination and discussion. Bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures can create conflicts between the groups and, thus, lead to an unsuccessful project and to the opposite results from what it was intended to achieve. Yet, that is only one of the possible backlashes. That is why these football projects do not have a stable form yet, and they are continuously being reformed, in order to find the best way of bringing together members of the host society and refugees. Implementation guides, such as the ‘Implementation Guide for Integration of Refugees through Sports’ (ISCA 2018), and reports, like ‘Integration through Football Project – First Phase Evaluation: What do we know so far?’ (Dr. Chonaill, B. N) and ‘Inclusion of Migrants in and through Sports: A Guide to Good Practice’ (Camino 2012), aim to examine which the best way is to create and develop a football project and to suggest methods in order for these projects to be successful. However, these guides and reports cannot be considered as an adequate literature to draw conclusions about whether the integration through football can be successful or not, which is why more academic research is needed.

6. Previous Literature

Despite the considerably large number of football clubs and associations that take part or host football projects for the integration of refugees, there are very few reports of the results of these projects, a fact that makes it hard to come to any general conclusions. Moreover, the connection between integration and football remains partly uninvestigated, as there is no adequate literature to rely on. This connection is the main element that should be examined in order to identify the possible relation between social integration and football. However, the literature is sufficient enough to understand and perceive the positive impact that intergroup contact-in football projects’ case that is the contact between the members of the host society and the refugees- can have in the integration process of the refugees (Yehuda 1969, Katz 1991, Tropp & Pettigrew 2004, Pettigrew & Tropp 2006, Pettigrew et al. 2011, Kim 2012, Dovidio et al. 2017). As the nature of football is principally based on the intergroup contact, the analysis of this relation can be determinant for the outcome of this study.

In spite of their insufficient number, a football club’s report should be mentioned in order to obtain some knowledge of what the results of these projects may be. ‘United

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Glasgow Football Club: A pilot study in sport’s facilitation of integration’ (Booth et al., 2014), is a report about a football club called United Glasgow, based in Glasgow, Scotland. The peculiarity of this club is that it competes in an anti-racist league and it is consisted from Scottish nationals, refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. The initial goal of the club is to create a feeling of belonging and a passage for young refugees and asylum seekers to the host community through football. Their basic aim is to investigate how sports and integration are connected. To achieve that, the interrelation between integration, social capital and sports is being examined, as it is important to detect if sports can assist in the increase of the social capital of refugees, which will subsequently help in the integration process (ibid, pp. 4-5). After the authors conducted sixteen semi-structured interviews and participant observation during a team training session (ibid, p. 5), the findings of the study are clearly in favor of sports, more particularly football, as it can be plain from the participants interviews that football helped them increase their social capital, by learning the language and the culture, built some social bonds and bridges with the Scottish nationals, and, therefore, integrate in their new host society easier than it would had happened without football (ibid, pp. 8-11). However, the authors of the report highlight that football alone is not enough to facilitate integration. The football projects must be well organized, reinforced with qualified staff and members, and even be located in suitable local contexts that can sustain this kind of projects (ibid, p. 12).

John Sugden’s (2010) study deals with the same question, what the value of football can be in reconciling people. He first mentions that, although sports have been a reason for reconciling parts of a community, it is not a few times that sports caused acts of violence, marginalization and separation between people. Basing these arguments on the sport pioneers studied in the past, Sugden concludes that sports are only one more of the social constructions and that they cannot be valued as naturally good or bad (Sugden 2010, p. 262). It depends on how sports are used and practiced in processes like the ones of football projects. Sugden highlights a specific football project, Football for Peace (F4P), which was created by him in Israel in order to build bridges between Jewish and Arab towns and villages (ibid, p. 265). Without wanting to elaborate the relationship between Jewish and Arab people, since the start of the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 (Sandler 2002, p. 416), this relationship was rarely under friendly terms. However, Sugden, as he had previous knowledge and experience gained from his former project

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development, he follows a critical left-realist approach when it comes to this kind of projects. What critical pragmatism supports is that there must be a concurrent “emphasis on theoretical development with critical, practical and empirical engagement” (Sugden 2010, p. 267). In that way, these projects will not only exist in a theoretical perspective, but they will pragmatically engage with the social problems. It is also important to focus on how these projects are created, planned and developed, always based on the understanding of how a particular community is moving and interacting. Comprehending the needs and the beat of every different society will lead to the development of a possibly successful project (ibid, p. 266).

Coalter (cited in Lyras and Peachey 2011, p. 311) rushes to support the previous allegation that literature about sport projects and their effectiveness is insufficient, as he strains that “sport programs are poorly planned and do not provide scientific evidence about their effectiveness”. Lyras and Peachey (2011) are introducing through their study a new model for evaluating and analyzing programs like football projects, which is called sport-for-development (SFD). As Sugden’s aforementioned study, Lyras and Peachey (2011) claim that if there is a right evaluation of the theoretical elements of a project and a suitable connection between those elements and the practical evidence, then the possibilities for a successful development of a project increase. According to Lyras (2011, p. 313), one of the foundation elements of sport projects is the development of Katz’s (1991) intergroup contact-theory conditions. Those conditions are extremely important to be developed not only during the sport projects, but even before the implementation of the projects. Thus, as stated by Lyras (2011, p. 324), the right programming before starting developing a project and the understanding of the social context under which the project is going to take place, can lead to the successful implementation of the project and to reconciliation. Moving from theory into practice, Lyras and Peachey (2011) present the sport projects that they conceptualized and organized from the beginning. These programs accomplish to bring together 2500 high school athletes from 175 different countries every four years and more than 15000 young people since their establishment. More specifically, one of the projects taking place in Cyprus, managed to reconcile more than 700 Greek and Turkish Cypriot young people by developing a number of sport activities and by finding ways of driving these young people to work together (Lyras & Peachey 2011, p. 319). Mainly from data drawn from the project in Cyprus throughout a period of five years (2005-2010), the

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SFD model that Lyras and Peachey introduced, is being used by researchers to evaluate even more projects and programs applied in different frameworks, such as programs for homeless or youth people (ibid, p. 323).

Langa Moyo (2018), a student in the University of Jyväskylä, in the faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, wrote a Master’s thesis about the social integration of refugees through sport. After analyzing five case studies, composed by five different stories and five semi-structured interviews, the outcome was that sport, when it is properly organized, it can help in other programs’ process of social integration. Moreover, sport gives the freedom to people to express themselves, increase their social capital, and bring them together even if they come from different backgrounds. In conclusion, Moyo believes that sport can lead to the integration of refugees, although it can be challenging, as the support that refugees receive in general is not facilitating the whole process.

7. Theoretical Framework

In order to examine if football activities can have an impact on refugees’ social integration into their new society, the conceptual frameworks of social integration, intergroup contact, social and human capital should be developed. Moreover, it is important if the interconnection between these four concepts can explain if people’s social status and social integration is transformed according to their social and human capital, and if the lack of social and human capital can affect their social integration. Furthermore, it should be examined if intergroup contact is connected with the increase or decrease of social and human capital.

7.1. Social Integration

In order to define integration, some points are drawn upon from Mulvey (2010) and the UK Home Office (2005) who describe integration as the process when migrants can finally display their full potential as members of the society and have the same rights and responsibilities with the rest of the members of the society. Moreover, Lomba (2010) mentions that integration should not just be defined as a result but also as a process-a two-way process-between the immigrants and the members of the host

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society. Effectively, this means that immigrants become part of a new society, and in return the ‘locals’ give opportunities for integration, and spaces for interaction between them and the immigrants. If a community does not accept foreigners, regardless of their own efforts to be included in their new society and community, integration simply will not happen (ISCA 2018). Integration is also described from the Refugee Council Working Paper (1997, p. 15) as “a process which prevents or counteracts the social marginalization of refugees, by removing legal, cultural and language obstacles and ensuring that refugees are empowered to make positive decisions on their future and benefit fully from available opportunities as per their abilities and aspirations”.

Ager and Strang (2008) introduce a new conceptual framework in their attempt to understand integration. In order to conclude to this conceptual framework, the authors followed an inductive methodology, divided in four sections: “documentary and conceptual analysis; fieldwork in settings of immigrants’ settlement; secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data; and verification” (Ager & Strang 2008, p. 167). After collecting the evidence, they proposed four main domains of integration, which all are interconnected with each other, in order to define the conceptual framework: markers and means; social connection; facilitators; and foundation. Afterwards, they elaborated the indicators of its one of the domains (ibid, p. 169).

Starting with the domain of ‘markers and means’, Ager and Strang (2008) divided this domain in four parts: employment; housing; education; and health (pp. 169-170). Each one of these markers is a factor that contributes in the integration process. Therefore, the improvement of every each of these markers can facilitate integration. Employment provides economic independence, something that allows immigrants to make plans for their future, learn the host language and get closer to the members of the host society (ibid, p. 170). Housing offers the feeling of having a home, which leads to an “overall physical and emotional well-being” (ibid, p. 171). Education supplies people with skills and abilities that will support them in the pursue of a job, but also make them be more active members in the society. Finally, health insures people that they can feel safe into their new society, making it easier for them to integrate and engage with their new society (ibid, p. 172). Therefore, these four areas are considered as key factors in the integration process of immigrants. As Ager and Strang (2008) stress: “It is, therefore, appropriate to include them in an operational definition of ‘integration’ and to encourage programmes working in these areas.” (p. 173).

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Next one is the domain of ‘facilitators’, which consists of two parts: ‘language and cultural knowledge’ and ‘safety and stability’. ‘Language and cultural knowledge’ refers to the importance of learning the language and culture of the host community. That factor can lead to the avoidance of numerous of barriers that someone may face when migrating to a new country, such as the social interaction with locals or the economic integration. Moreover, ‘safety and stability’ seem to be important for the integration of refugees. Being able to feel like home and live in a peaceful environment, without being concerned about getting into trouble, facilitates the integration process (ibid, pp. 182-184).

‘Foundation’, referring to the citizenship and right that the refugees obtain, is another domain that plays an important role in Ager’s and Strang’s (2008) definition of social integration. According to them, it is hard to interpret the frame of citizenship, because in some countries it can be interrelated with the sense of identity. Nevertheless, acquiring a full citizenship in a country presupposes not only better integration conditions, but also having the same rights as any other one (p. 173-175). “These rights do not in themselves define integration, but they underpin important assumptions about integration.” (p. 175).

The domain of ‘social connection’ will be elaborated in the next chapter, as it is inextricably linked with the definition of social capital.

7.2. Social Capital

Ager and Strang (2008, p. 177) highlight the fact that the ‘social connection’ domain correlates strongly with the refugees’ social capital. This domain can be divided in three different forms: social bonds, social bridges and social links (ibid, p. 178). Social bonds are mostly referred to the relationships immigrants have with people of the same nationality. These bonds enable them to continue acting their culture and feel more settled in their new society (ibid). Social bridges are also important for the integration of immigrants. Connecting with the members of the host community and being friends with them can lead to obtain this feeling of ‘home’. This connection can be achieved through common activities, like sports (ibid, p. 180). Finally, “social links refer to the connection between individuals and structures of the state, such as government services” (ibid, p. 181). Facilitating the access to this kind of services for immigrants is an important factor that can support their integration. In conclusion, Strang and Ager

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(2010, p. 598) highlight the fact that social integration depends a lot on social bridges and bonds, as they can be the reason to avoid the segregation of one community, and lead to the bonding and bridging of this community with the host community. In order to create the proper conditions for it, there should be created opportunities for the members of both of the communities to come closer and benefit from each other (ibid, p. 599).

Pierre Bourdieu (1986) while examining the concept of capital, he divided it into four different forms: economic, cultural, symbolic and social. More specifically, according to Bourdieu (1986), the social capital is the amount of the factual and symbolic resources somebody possesses, which are largely correlated with the mutual acceptance and recognition between people (p. 248). It is also developed from the group membership and social networks. “The volume of social capital possessed by a given agent ... depends on the size of the network of connections that he can effectively mobilize" (p.249). Social capital also resembles the advantages that somebody gains when belonging in a social network and acting according to the norms of this network (Carpiano 2005). Moreover, Bourdieu (2001) considers the social capital as an individual commodity and that it increases or decreases according to the connection a person has to a social network, the size of this specific network, and the amount of social capital that the other members of the network possess (Bourdieu 2001).

James Coleman (1988) also considers social capital as an individual characteristic, which is interconnected with the economic capital-it does not only originate from it-and some other forms of capital, such as human capital. Thus, social capital is not just a linear human characteristic, but it helps in the improvement of their relationships and the networks they belong in (Coleman 1988). Coleman (1998) stresses that the social capital describes the relationship between people, not their material assets, and that is why it is hard to be measured (ibid). He also detects three parameters of the social capital. The first one is about the trust between the members of a social network, the second one is concerned with the transmission of information between the members of a social network, which leads to the improvement of the communication and cooperation between them. The last one is related to the internal norms and sanctions that are imposed to the members of a network and which lead to a certain way of behaving (ibid). Nevertheless, in order for the social capital to exist, Coleman (1998)

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believes that it has to lead to some sort of productive activity and not only include the relationships inside of a social network (ibid).

Robert Putman (1993) describes social capital as a collective characteristic. More specifically, he defines the social capital as a set of characteristics that have to do with the existence of social networks in the community, the civic engagement of the members in the local matters and problems, and the development of a strong civic identity, trust and reciprocity between the members of the social network (Putnam et al. 1993). The existence of these elements promotes the collective effectiveness, as the members can cope with the demands of a situation by using their available resources more effectively as a whole than as individuals (Kritsotakis & Gamarnikow 2004). For Putnam (1993), the participation in organized units and in the community has a significant importance for someone’s social capital. Therefore, social capital considered as a collective characteristic that describes social units and not only individuals (Kritsotakis et al. 2009). That is why social capital should be measured not in an individual but in a collective level. According to Putnam (1993), the social capital is an element that bonds communities and helps in the right function of the democratic societies.

7.3. Human Capital

According to Sweetland (1996), as human capital is described the economic benefits that members of a society and the society itself can gain by investing in people. These investments are usually of health, nutrition, or educational kind, which is considered as the most important one. That is because of the contribution that education can offer in both health and nutritional sector. Moreover, education can lead to the possession of money and proprietorship (Sweetland 1996, p. 341). Hooghe and Stolle (2003, p. 4) describe human capital as skills and education and that it is considered as an individual characteristic. Moreover, Diaconu et al. (2014, pp.32-33) stress that as more educated and with a higher level of human capital the members of a community are, the higher their wages are, and, as a result, their productivity as well. In general, the level of human capital can represent the level of the economic growth and development of a country (ibid, p. 39).

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7.4. Intergroup Contact

Gordon Allport (1954) was the pioneer of the intergroup contact theory, when he wrote his volume ‘The nature of prejudice’. By his ‘Contact Hypothesis’, Allport (1954) implied that prejudice was the biggest problem of the relations between the majority and the minority of a community and “the fundamental cause of social, political, and economic inequalities between groups” (Katz 1991, p. 126). According to Allport (1954, p. 9), “prejudice is an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group as a whole, or toward an individual because he is a member of that group”. Moreover, Allport introduced four ‘positive factors’, which, through intergroup contact, would lead to the reduction of prejudice: “(a) equal status between the groups, (b) common goals, (c) intergroup cooperation, and (d) the support of authorities, law, or custom” (Pettigrew & Tropp 2005, p. 264).

More specifically, equal status presupposes that all the members of the intergroup contact should have an equal hierarchical relationship. Furthermore, common goals lead to the bonding between members of groups that work together towards a mutual objective. Moreover, cooperation requires an environment in which competition should not be included, but also an environment that the members must rely on each other in order to achieve their shared desired goal, that is, having common goals. Last is the support by law authorities and social norms. Social norms must be capable of encouraging inclusion and integration, and support positive contact (ibid, pp. 264-265). Yehuda Amir (1969) took Allport’s ‘Contact Hypothesis’ a step further. After examining and analyzing previous literature, evaluations, and studies of intergroup contact between people of different race, gender, and age, he concluded to seven principles: (1) Contact between members of different ethnic groups can lead to a change of attitude; (2) “favorable” or “unfavorable” conditions, under which the contact takes place, can be the decisive factor of the direction that this change takes. Thus, under favorable conditions, prejudice can be reduced and vice versa; (3) the change of an attitude can either happen in the direction of the attitude or in the intensity of it; (4) most of the times, the change of the attitude only occurs to a specific aspect of the attitude and it does not generalize further; (5) due to the favorable conditions under

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which the most of the evaluations and studies took place, it is uncertain if prejudice could be reduced in real life cases. For example, according to a summary of the Cornell studies conducted by Williams (1964), it seems like in real life the possibilities of a person to have interethnic contacts are inversely proportional to the amount of how much prejudiced this person is; (6) favorable conditions that can lead to the reduction of prejudice are (a) equal status between the members, (b) higher status of the members of the minority group than the members of the majority. Studies have actually shown that a contact between members of a majority group and individuals with a high status from the minority group can lead to the reduction of prejudice towards the whole minority group (Amir 1969, p. 327); (c) the promotion of the intergroup contact by the authorities, (d) a more intense contact rather than a casual one, (e) when the contact creates pleasant feeling to the participants, (f) when the common goals are more important than the individual goals; (7) unfavorable conditions such as competition between the groups, or lower status of the minority group can have the opposite results (pp. 338-339). Amir also stresses that it is really important for the policy makers to take these seven principles into serious consideration before creating any programs considering intergroup contact (ibid, p. 340).

57 years after Allport’s ‘Contact Hypothesis’, Pettigrew et al. (2011) attempted to create a meta-analysis of the theory, including 515 studies and more than 250000 subjects. Their outcome, after combining the results of all the 20th_{century studies, was} that intergroup contact can reduce prejudice, yet with some alterations on the intergroup contact’s conditions. One condition that was added, was the factor of cross-group friendship (Pettigrew et al. 2011, p. 275). The emergence of friendships between the members of the two groups can reinforce the positive factors which Allport had set. Friendship can have a positive effect on common goals and cooperation, but on equal status as well (ibid). In general, Allport’s idea was that as much contact there is between the members of two groups, the more they get to know each other, and, thus, a cognitive change occurs and prejudice is reduced (ibid, p. 277). However, this is only a minor factor. What Pettigrew et al. (2011) highlighted in Allport’s hypothesis was that the contact should be under positive manners. This can lead to the reduction of anxiety, as well as other negative emotions like anger and fear.

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8. Methodology

Before elaborating the method that is being used in this study, it is important to mention the significance of the methodology part itself. According to 6 and Bellamy (2013, pp. 11-12), the methodology in not only about the method and the correct techniques used in a research but also about inference and warrant. Inference is defined as the conclusion that is reached after the observation of a situation that was not visible before, by using the right tools and theory to come to that conclusion. The level of confidence that follows the researcher’s observations and the ability to educe the truth as much as possible is described as warranty. Thus, after stressing that these two concepts are as important as the method that is used in a research, I will continue with a short discussion of the philosophical standpoint of the thesis, the method and the approach that is going to be followed, the data that are going to be used and the analysis of them, as well as the validity and reliability, the ethical considerations of this research, and the role of the researcher.

8.1. Philosophical standpoint

During my attempt to examine the power that football can have in the integration of refugees, I will base my study on a social-constructivist standpoint. Social constructivism is a view by which the norms and phenomena that exist in the social world are not a priori or self-created, but are formed according to people’s interactions and social structures. There is no single reality or truth. Those are created by the individuals and not by the natural laws (Somekh & Lewin 2005, p. 348).

8.1.1. Epistemology

“Epistemology is the sub-discipline of philosophy concerned with the truth status of knowledge that can be achieved either by observation or by inference” (6 & Bellamy, 2012, p. 61). Having as foundation the social-constructivist stance, my epistemological standpoint in my attempt to produce knowledge and reach the truth will be interpretivism. As 6 and Bellamy mention (Ibid, p. 239), “interpretivism should be done instead of explanation”, meaning that through interpretivism the researcher should not seek for the causes of something that happens but for the reasons that it happens.

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“Interpretive researchers assume that access to reality (given or socially constructed) is only through social constructions such as language, consciousness, shared meanings, and instruments” (Myers, 2008). Thus, examining those social constructions will be an important tool, which will allow me to interpret my data and find the deeper cause of whether football can have an impact in social integration. Moreover, 6 and Bellamy (2012, p. 240) state that if something is, at least, plausible to be causally explained, “then it must capable, at least in principle, of being predicted”.

8.2. Qualitative Research & Inductive Approach

As my study is based on an interpretive point of view, I will try to interpret my data according to the social constructions and the human relationships and actions. Thus, a qualitative method will be helpful in order to develop my research. As Denzin and Lincoln mention (Denzin and Lincoln, cited in Ritchie et al. 2014, p. 2), although qualitative research is hard to be explained, and despite the fact that a lot of approaches and methods can be used in a qualitative research, a lot of scholars tried to define qualitative research as an “interpretative approach”, which helps with the in-depth examination of different phenomena (Ritchie et al., p. 3). Denzin and Lincoln also set a definition of qualitative research, saying that “[…] it can be described as: a set of imperative, material practices that make the world visible. […] attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them.” (ibid, p. 3). Therefore, I believe that a qualitative method will be a more suitable one than a quantitative or a mixed method, as the aim of the research is to understand refugees’ feelings and experiences, when it comes to their connection with football and their social inclusion.

In this study I will use an inductive approach. Traditionally, some researchers and methodologists frequently characterize qualitative researches as inductive and quantitative as deductive (Brinkmann 2013, pp. 53-54). Of course, that cannot stand as a general rule. An inductive research aims to find out what the development of a statement can be, without making any assumptions about it from the beginning of the research, or trying to define if it is true or false before even examining the available data (6 & Bellamy, 2012, p. 76). Moreover, an inductive research is considered as a collection of individual occasions and examples in order to produce a general rule out

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of them (Brinkmann 2013, p. 53). Having that under consideration and driven by the data that I gathered, I will attempt to find an answer to my initial question “What is the impact that football can make in the social inclusion of refugees” by organizing my data into themes and, thereafter, analyze them thematically, in order to extract a more general meaning out of them.

8.3. Data Collection

For my data collection, I decided to conduct interviews with five male participants of two football projects. More specifically, three of them participated in ‘Football Project X’ and two of them in ‘Football Project Y’, with both of the projects located in Greece. The interviews were conducted through Facebook Messenger Chat between 23-27 July 2020, and all of them were in English.

Moreover, as I believed that the initial five interviews were not enough, I gathered some data out of three interviews that were presented in the ‘Get in the Game – Promoting Social Integration through Football-based Programmes’ report (Ginzel 2019) during the ‘Football for Good Summit – Get in the Game Conference’ that took place in Berlin from the 28th_{of November to the 1}st_{of December 2018. The report was published by} the ‘streetfootballworld’ organization (streetfootballworld 2018), an organization that promotes football as a tool to change the societies. The interviews were conducted by the writer of the report, Laura Ginzel. The interviewees were refugees who participated in integration-through-football projects in three different European countries: Hungary, Germany and Greece, and the aim of the interviews was to present how football projects can benefit the refugees and help them integrate in a new community.

8.3.1. Interviews

Starting with the primary data, while following my philosophical and epistemological standpoint, conducting interviews allowed me to “obtain descriptions of the life world of the interviewee in order to interpret the meaning of the described phenomena” (Kvale 1996, pp. 5-6). In other words, interviews allow the interviewer to understand the real-life experiences, when it comes to a specific phenomenon, and interpret it as better as possible.

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I also decided these interviews to be individual and not in groups. Although this kind of interview may not be as vivid as group interviews, they have many advantages. They allowed me to lever the conversation towards the direction I wanted to. Individual interviews can also offer confidentiality, something that gives more freedom to the interviewee to express his feelings and talk more openly. Finally, individual interviews allow the participants to tell their stories in a different way than in group interviews, especially when the research is based on biographies and peoples’ feelings about a phenomenon or situation (Brinkmann 2013, p. 27).

Although face-to-face interviews would provide me more in-depth knowledge and a better interpretation of the refugees’ thoughts, because of the pandemic of the coronavirus I decided to conduct these interviews through Internet chat, as that was considered as a safer and more reasonable choice. One advantage of the Internet chat interviews is that they can provide the interviewer with a broader public. Face-to-face interviews may sometimes discourage someone who wants to participate but he/she is too shy for that type of situation and will probably approach only a certain type of people. However, it is easier to have a chat conversation with somebody who is not expected to answer immediately. The participants also had the time to read the questions, process them, and then give their answers without being stressed about the timetable. Thus, I believe that Internet chat interviews allowed me to randomly pick the participants, without being aware of their character or their past, which is an element that adds to the objectivity of this research. Moreover, I had the advantage of self-transcription, as the texts that I received were directly ready for analysis (ibid, p. 30). Although the element of self-transcription can be tricky if the participants’ language skills are not sufficient (ibid), fortunately I did not face this kind of problem in any of my interviews.

I started the interviews by searching out in Facebook for participants from 4 different football projects, ‘Football Project X’, ‘Football Project Y’, ‘Football Project A’ and ‘Football Project B’. After finding 19 possible candidates, 14 males and 5 females, who could participate in an interview, I messaged all of them. I received 5 positive responses, all of them males, 2 that said that they did not want to be interviewed, and 12 who did not answer at all. In my message, I firstly introduced myself and presented what the purpose of my research is and why I reached out to them. I reassured them that the interview will be taken under total confidentiality and that they will be kept

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anonymous. Then, I presented to them my six closed-ended questions, giving them nevertheless the freedom to comment whatever else they wanted about my topic. As the five interviews were not an adequate number of interviews to collect a sufficient amount of data, I decided to use three more interviews which were presented in the ‘Get in the Game – Promoting Social Integration through Football-based Programmes’ report (Ginzel 2019) during the ‘Football for Good Summit – Get in the Game Conference’. This report was written and compiled by Laura Ginzel, the Senior Project Manager of the ‘streetfootballworld’ organization, which also published the report on its website page. The interviews were semi-structured, including 10 open-ended questions. All of the participants were male refugees, who had participated in football projects about social integration across Europe. Their answers were not designed to have a research purpose, yet they had more of an informational aim and presented how those refugees feel about the football projects.

8.4. Data Analysis

For my interviews’ analysis, I will rely on Steinar Kvale’s (1996) design of an interview. This design contains seven stages and it will help me complete a thorough investigation around the ideas and the opinions of the refugees when it comes to the matter of their integration in the society through football.

More particularly, Kvale (1996, p. 88) presents the seven stages of the interview design, from which I will only use the last three stages in the analysis part.

• Transcribing: “Prepare the interview material for analysis, which commonly includes a transcription from oral speech to written text”. As all of the material were in written form, the only important thing was to transport the interview texts from Facebook Messenger chat and the conference’s report to another file, and then correct any spelling or grammar mistakes from the interviews that I conducted.

•_{Analyzing: “Decide, on the basis of the purpose and topic of this investigation,} and on the nature of the interview material, which methods of analysis are appropriate for the interviews”. As mentioned above, my approach of analysis

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will be interpretative, for the reasons that have been previously reported in the

Epistemology part.

Before continuing with the Kvale’s final stage, at this point it was really important to organize the data according to themes and categories, in order to be easier to analyze it. The themes that emerged from the collected data were: job opportunities, relationships, health (either physical or mental), language issues, and prejudice. After that stage was processed, I continued with Kvale’s next stage.

• Reporting: “Communicate the findings of the study and the methods applied in a form that lives up to scientific criteria, takes the ethical aspects of the investigation into consideration, and the results in a readable product”. In other words, for the research to be successful, it should be methodically written, constantly have the theory with the methods and the data on the same track, but also lead to the production of a report that will be capable of being positioned in the scientific world and that follows the scientific criteria.

8.5. Validity & Reliability

“Validity is, loosely, the degree to which our statements approximate to truth.” (6 & Bellamy, 2012, p. 21), and “Validity is often defined by asking the question: Are you measuring what you think you are measuring?” (Kerlinger, cited in Kvale 1996, p. 238). What these two definitions attempt to explain is that validity is about the proximity of a research to what it intends to investigate; the closer the methods and the data of a research are to the investigated phenomenon, the higher the validity is. Kvale (1996) also mentions that “continually checking, questioning, and theoretically interpreting the findings” make a research more valid and closer to the true knowledge (Kvale 1996, p. 241). According to my research questions, the interview questions and the data that I collected from the interviewees’ responses, I believe that the data that I collected is capable of leading to answering my research questions, as I had the answers in the interview questions that I asked. I also tried to follow my research questions throughout the whole research and writing of the thesis.

“Reliability has to do with how we measure – or […] code – the thing in which we are interested. A reliable system of measurement or coding is consistent in that, each time

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it is used on the same data, it yields the same measure or code” (6 & Bellamy, 2012, p. 21). 6 and Bellamy (2012) also give an example about reliability by saying that if two researchers decide to make the same research, and if they follow the same process and use the same data, the result should be the same for both of them (ibid). The fact that the data that I collected was already in English and that there was no need to translate them from another language, adds some reliability to the research. Moreover, as the data was already in written form, that means that there was no mistake or difficulty while copying it from the Internet chat to another file, or the possibility of transcribing it wrongly if it was in oral form.

8.6. Ethical Considerations

As Piper and Simons (2004) state (citied in Somekh & Lewin, 2004, p. 56), “ethical practice is often defined as doing no harm”. Ethical consideration can divide to three sub-categories: Informed consent; Confidentiality and anonymity; and prepublication access (Ibid, p. 56-57). Each one of them are equally important. Firstly, informed consent is about letting the participants know that they are being observed or interviewed, as well as clarifying to them the purpose of the research and why they are participating in it. Thus, getting the participants permission before conducting anything is the basis of the research. That is how I started my contact with them, informing them about the purpose of my study, that our text chatting is happening for that specific purpose, and that I am going to use their interviews in order to conduct my study and only for that purpose. Moreover, I have to state that nobody else had access to the text interviews, and that this material will be destroyed after the completion of my study. Secondly, confidentiality and anonymity are extremely important in every research, especially when it comes to refugees, some of them future in the country is unstable and uncertain. Of course, all the participants will stay anonymous during the composition of the research, that is why I am going to use random capital letters instead of their real names. In that way, they will be ensured that no harm will occur to them and that nobody will identify them. Lastly, the participants will have the opportunity to access the research before it gets published. Personally, this is a matter of morality and respect for the people that helped me conduct and complete my research.

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8.7. Role of the Researcher

As the gathering of data for this study is based on the communication between people and the interpretation of their sayings, my main aim was to conduct these interpretations as objectively as possible, although it is hard to achieve a complete objectivity, as every person has a different background, viewpoints, and biases that characterizes him/her. The fact that I’m living in Greece, a country with a large influx of refugees during the last years, as well as my family’s refugee past, who relocated to Greece after the Asia Minor catastrophe in 1922 (Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) 2020), it may add a tone of subjectivity in the research. Nevertheless, I tried from the beginning of this study to move aside these viewpoints and biases of me as much as possible, and conduct a research under objective terms.

8.8. Interviewee Profiles

Below I will give some details about the interviewee profiles, such as age, nationality, and for how long they have been in their host country. As their names will stay anonymous, I will use a capital letter alphabetically for each one of them. First, I will present the participants from the interviews that I conducted:

A is a 21-year-old refugee from Syria and he has been in Greece since 2017. B is 24 years old and he came in Greece from Iraq in 2018.

C is a 25-years-old refugee coming from Syria and he has been in Greece since 2017. D is 22 years old refugee from Afghanistan, who came in Greece in 2017.

E is a Syrian refugee, 29 years old, and he has been living in Greece since 2017. Below are the interviewees that took part in the interviews regarding the ‘Get in the Game – Promoting Social Integration through Football-based Programmes’ report (Ginzel 2019):

F comes from Afghanistan; he is 27 years old refugee and he has been in Hungary since 2015.

G is a 17-years-old refugee from Iraq and he lives in Germany since 2016. H is 35 years old and he is a refugee from Algeria living in Greece since 2011.

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9. Analysis

The data from the eight interviews led to the formation of 6 categories/themes. The main issue was the socialization and the friendships that were created during the football projects, with the language and health issue, both mental and physical, coming after that. The interviewees also mentioned how they managed to improve their language skill and how job opportunities appeared to them through the football projects. Finally, some of them stated that the football projects allowed them to come closer to the culture of their new host society.

9.1. Socialization and Friendships

Almost every participant of the interviews emphasized on the importance of socialization and the friendships that were created during their time spent in the football projects.

“I would suggest, to come to our trainings and see how the program works, because it is not only football, it’s something more than that, it has to do with socialization.” (B)

Socialization is a very important thing for people in general. It makes them come closer, get over their loneliness and be a part of the society. Football can play a major role in that, as it allows people to unite under a common goal. However, football in not only about the sport; it is a whole process which includes a big preparation. During this preparation, like training or the talks between the members of the team and the coaches, bonds between the participants are created and the aim of football is not just to win, but to socialize and create new relationships. Thus, football projects can be considered not only as simple sport events, but as spheres of socialization.

Of course, socialization leads to the contact between people, and, thus, to the creation of new relationships and friendships.

“When you become refugee and don't speak any language, then you look for a person to talk and connect with, so this activity was the beginning for me and it helped me to make new friends.” (A)

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“The most important thing that I gained in this project is precious friendships with people from all around the world.” (D)

“More importantly, [football] is a means of bringing people together and uniting them, whether you are.” (E)

All three of the participants stressed that one of the most important things was to find people to connect with, and to be able to talk and communicate with them. Especially for a newly-come refugee to a foreign country, the difficulties are numerous. New relationships and friendships can help to meliorate the situation and integrate more easily in a new society. As Ager and Strang (2008) highlight, social connection is strongly connected with the social capital; social bonds and social bridges are part of this social connection. These social bonds are referred to the friendships and relationships that refugees have with people of the same nationality or same background (Ager & Strang 2008, p. 178). Thus, participating in football projects is a way for the refugees of connecting with people who share the same past, people who flee from their countries in order to seek for a better future and a better life. It is easier for them to develop friendships with each other, and football gives them this opportunity.

Although social bonds are capable of increasing one’s social capital, and, thus, help him/her integrate, social bridges create social capital as well. Connecting with the members of the host society and developing relationships and friendships with them can lead the refugees to obtain this feeling of ‘home’ (ibid).

“It [football] was a bridge to make the locals come closer.” (A)

“A lot of locals [participated in the project] but the good thing was that those locals had good feelings about us and they never acted or did something unfair to us.” (D)

“My participation in football was giving me strength when I saw the locals with us. Everyone was wonderful with us and they are my friends now.” (E)

“I met a lot of people at the trainings. I have Hungarian friends now and they helped me to find a job. Then, through my Hungarian friends, I met a Hungarian girlfriend and we moved in together.” (F)

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The social bridges and the importance and usefulness of them, are visible in the participants’ quotes. A clearly said that football was the reason of coming closer to the locals, and that it functioned as a bridge between them. D and E not only mentioned the participation of the locals in the projects, but also how much support they gained from them and that friendships were formed between them. Thus, starting relationships and friendships, not only with co-nationals but also with nationals of the host country, is a basic element of the integration process. According to Ager and Strang (2008, p. 180), refugees and non-refugees should come closer, meet each other and stop being strangers. A way to achieve this connection is through common activities, like sports. In any case, the social integration of refugees is not just a one-way process, but a two-way one, as Lomba (2010) mentions. The desire and will of the refugees to integrate should be followed by the opportunities given by the locals. That is because, however the effort that the refugees put into their integration, locals should, on the same time, accept them and create some space for interaction between them; and football can achieve both of them, as it can create space for interaction and develop friendships as well. In that way, the two-way process is accomplished and refugees’ integration becomes less challenging.

9.2. Community

Developing a community was also one of the themes mentioned by some of the participants.

“Connection is one of the most important required things in our life and I believe as long as we make our community bigger, we can help things run better, therefore it [football] has helped me to find a new way to integrate.” (A)

“Football makes it easier for me to feel included in my new society because it’s something that engages the community.” (C)

Putnam (1993) refers to the social capital not as an individual characteristic but as a collective one. He defines it a set of characteristics connected with the existence of social networks in the community. Football projects are a way of developing these social networks, as some participants mentioned that their community became bigger because of those projects. They also mentioned that, as football is something that

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requires team work and mutual support, therefore it engages the community in a way that everyone has to work together and rely on each other. As a result, social capital is increased during this procedure, and, hence, the social integration is facilitated. According to Putnam (1993), social capital is an element that bonds communities and helps in the right function of them.

On the other hand, Bourdieu (1986) defined the social capital as an individual commodity that depends on the collective acceptance. Its increase or decrease depends on the connection a person has to a social network or community, but also according to the acceptance and recognition somebody receives from other members of the community (Bourdieu 1986).

“Football helps people to respect and accept each other in the society.” (D) “By forming strong links with people who support me and are aware of my situation, and reciprocally I support and appreciate them.” (B)

Football can offer this kind of acceptance and recognition, that everybody is the same and nobody is more superior to another person. The rules of football apply to everybody and mutual acceptance is one of them. In that way, football allows people to receive and show their appreciation towards the other participants, as football works like a small community or a social network, within which the members of it can create and develop strong relationships. This acceptance and recognition, as Bourdieu (1986) says, consist the amount of symbolic resources that somebody possesses, and increase or decrease the social capital. Thus, if football can create small communities or social networks inside the football projects, and if their members accept and recognize the value of each other, the social capital of every individual can be increased, and, simultaneously, the social capital’s size of the community will increase as well. That is because the social capital is interrelated with group membership and social networks. Social capital is a feature that derives from the relationships between the members of a group/network, rather than the group/network itself. Thus, as Bourdieu (1986) mentions, these relationships can lead to the improvement of the social position of the members of a group/network and create new opportunities in different fields.

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9.3. Physical & Mental Health

A major topic that was mentioned in the interviews was the improvement of the participants’ physical and mental health because of football. Physical and mental health are two crucial factors in people’s lives. As the Roman poet Juvenal (120 AD) wrote, “mens sana in corpore sano”, which means ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. A healthy mind and a healthy body are interconnected and the good or bad shape of the one part affects the other one. Nevertheless, football can provide well-being in both of them. It should be highlighted that none of the participants mentioned any disadvantages about taking part in the football projects.

“Football improves aerobic capacity. Running at any intensity for 90 minutes requires a high level of stamina. It improves cardiovascular health; it lowers body fat and improves muscle tone; it builds muscle strength; it increases bone strength; it teaches coordination; it promotes teamwork and sharing; it increases cognitive brain function. In this project I also gained health and creativity.” (C) “I was improving my physical condition through sports, which had been affected by what happened on my journey.” (B)

Starting from the physical health and well-being, it is self-evident that football and sports in general are the best way of staying physically healthy, sharp, and in a good condition. Although injuries can be considered as a drawback of sports, they are not identified from people working with refugees as a barrier for them to participate in football projects (ISCA 2018), yet not from the refugees as well. Moreover, the formation of the football projects being examined is based on the promotion of reconciliation and is not competitive at all. Thus, while taking part in a competitive game can be risky and lurk injuries, the formation of these projects helps to avoid them. The participants that talked more thoroughly about the advantages of sports, mentioned several body areas that are improved through sports. Areas such as the physical and stamina condition, the heart and musculature function, but also the brain function and coordination, can all be improved through football.

However, it is not only the physical health that the participation in football projects can help. Mental health is also important to be in a good level.

FOOTBALL: MORE THAN A SPORT : What is the impact that football can make in the social integration of refugees?