Mohammed Jaddou - The Syrian refugee wonderkid in Germany

Mohammed Jaddou, a former captain of the Syrian U17 football team, has now fled to Germany where he hopes to build a new life. Mohammed shares his story with Copa90 on how football gives him meaning and hope for his new life.

In the video below, Mohammed Jaddou - a Syrian refugee now living in Germany - shares his story with Copa90 on how football gives him meaning and hope for his new life in Germany.

Mohammed describes the situation in Syria, where violence and war resulted in the death of a fellow player, his best friend. As Syrian society began to crumble around him and his community, he describes how dangerous it became for him and his team mates to continue to play football with the Syrian national U17 team. In the video, Mohammed explains how, in an act of solidarity and defiance against the bloodshed, him and his team will attend the Asia finals with the ultimate aim of qualifying for the World Cup. In his own words, their actions are an attempt to “show the world who the Syrian national team are and to make the dreams of Tarik (the deceased friend and team mate of Mohammed) a reality”.

In light of the ongoing refugee crisis and its continued attention in popular news media, Mohammed’s story is particularly interesting for those with an eye on sport’s ability to effect wider social change. Football especially, has played a prominent public role in the #refugeeswelcome campaign that continues to sweep the footballing world, providing language lessons and training for refugees organised most notably by German clubs. The widely reported incident of a man and his young son being tripped by a journalist has seen the father gain a coaching position in Spain, whilst his son became a mascot alongside Cristiano Ronaldo before a recent Real Madrid - Grenada game.

Competitive elite football – a game that has at times been associated with divisive undertones of nationalism, xenophobia and racism – is seemingly uniting behind a message of empathy backed up with humanitarian action. Whilst these financial donations and campaigns of vocal support are certainly welcome additions to the conversation around the refugee crisis, in many ways the work of football, and sport more generally, has only just started. This crisis will not be solved in the short term, and one off-financial contributions or offers of employment given while the world’s focus remains on this issue is only the beginning of what needs to be a comprehensive international strategy – which sport can play a part in.

Mohammed Jaddou is in Germany searching for an opportunity to better his life – football may just provide him with that opportunity. However, with the vast resources of European football and its fan base, how many more opportunities can ‘the beautiful game’ provide? And I’m not just talking about on the football field.