Our Gamechanging Team
From uprooted, to unstoppable.
Introducing the Gamechanging Team.
Revealed just weeks before the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026 kicks off, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s Gamechanging Team is a symbolic line-up of players, with a refugee or displacement background. The team embodies hope, courage, resilience and the power of what is possible when people displaced by war and persecution are met with safety, opportunity and welcome. And it highlights the power of football to be more than a game; for young refugees it can be healing, hope, belonging. It has the power to change lives.
Captained by UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Alphonso Davies who was born in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled war in Liberia before being resettled to Canada, the team brings together players, including Real Madrid's’ Antonio Rüdiger whose parents fled conflict in Sierra Leone, Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga who was born in Angola during civil war, FC Kaisar’s Victor Moses who fled Nigeria to the UK, Leicester City FC’s goal keeper Asmir Begović who fled Bosnia when he was just four, Norwich City FC’s Mohamed Touré who was born in a refugee camp in Guinea and now plays for Australia, CD Castellón's Awer Mabil who was born in Kakuma refugee camp, Watford FC’s Nestory Irankunda who was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, FC Dallas’s Bernard Kamungo who was raised in a refugee camp in Tanzania and VfB Stuttgarts’ Ermedin Demirović whose father fled conflict in Bosnia to Germany.
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“It's so special to lead UNHCR’s Gamechanging Team – a team of players whose childhoods have all been touched by war and displacement. We show what is possible when kids find safety and opportunity. In times like these, I hope we can bring hope and a belief that no matter how hard the road is, you can always overcome it."
— Canada's Alphonso Davies, captain of UNHCR’s symbolic team
Antonio Rüdiger
"My story is an example to others that you can make it from nowhere to somewhere. I want to support and motivate young people trying to make it in life."
Ali Al-Hamadi
"My parents fled Iraq when I was very young. Packed up everything, new country, new language. I owe everything to them. I want to remind people there’s always light at the end of the tunnel."
Ermedin Demirović
“This UNHCR team shows the power of football to change lives. My father fled Bosnia around the time of the war, and I was born in Germany. To now represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at only its second-ever World Cup makes me incredibly proud.”
Mohamed Touré
“My family came to Australia as refugees. Sport gave me freedom, belief and a sense of belonging. I hope sharing my story shows young refugees that where you start in life does not define what you can achieve.”
Awer Mabil
"Growing up in a refugee camp, football was more than a game to me - it was freedom and hope. For young refugees today, football can inspire them to imagine a brighter future."
Asmir Begović
“Being forced to flee home as a child stays with you for life. It made me who I am. Football gave me stability, purpose and belonging. For young refugees, the game can keep dreams alive.”
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Carling Jackson
Sports artist and humanitarian Carling Jackson is collaborating with UNHCR to create an artwork of the Gamechanging Team, standing in a pre-match line up, with their younger selves standing in front of them. On the right, you can see a sneak peek of the artwork that will be revealed later this month.
Jacskon said, ‘’It is an incredible honor to paint these 11 players together for the first time as children and as heroes of multiple nations. Depicting these players standing before the world not only as the amazing footballers the world knows but as children; each carrying stories shaped by conflict, displacement or its consequences. I hope this image and this symbolic team will inspire young refugees across the world. For me, as for many as for many others, they simply embody hope, courage, resilience and the power of what is possible’’.
The power of sport.
Through access to sports including football, young people who have been forced to flee their homes and start life in new countries can find belonging, community, confidence and hope. Football can give young people opportunities that last far beyond just a 90-minute game. They last a lifetime.
UNHCR is the leading organisation transforming lives for people forced to flee. Working with partners around the world, we help them not only find safety but also access education, jobs and opportunities to thrive. Through sport, including football, young people find belonging, community, confidence and hope.
