Last Friday, on a cloudy day in a remote part of western Thessaloniki, players from two unlikely soccer teams met up for a match; the Greek Homeless Football Team and a team made up of young refugees who have been stuck in Greece’s migrants camps for months.
They gathered at a refugee center that is an old, retired Greek factory, brought their athletic sneakers and for the first time in a long time, the young refugees were able to just have fun.
Although it was a friendly game, the meeting was an important one for all players involved, and spectators cheered on the players as they fought to score a goal.
“It was an intense experience,” Sakis Avramakis, coach of the Homeless Team, told VICE Greece magazine. “Everyone loved it. It was a very important game.”
The Greek Homeless Football Team recently won the Fair Play Award at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow this summer. Their goal for this match was to provide the refugee players with the chance to escape from their worries — even if for just a few hours.
(Photos originally appeared in VICE Greece)
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