‘It shows them they’re not alone’: inside the UK’s first refugee team

‘Every one of these boys has a story,” says Fethi Ahmed as he looks across the parched playing surface of a recreation ground in Harlow. “But for two hours on a Thursday they can forget everything, whatever their difficulties. They count down the days to this. Everyone here knows they have football to keep them going.”

Ahmed knows better than anyone how Changing Lives FC, the first team in the UK to comprise entirely of refugees and migrants, has helped to do what its name promises. It has been there for him since he arrived on these shores after a terrifying journey from Egypt six years ago, when he was just 16; it has been a crutch through even darker times, which led to a suicide attempt in 2019. He is the team’s captain: a well-known and respected figure in the community who others now turn to.

“I’m very famous in Harlow,” he says with a self-deprecating smile. “I try my best to help everyone. If anyone has an issue, I’ll do what I can. If I shout at them on the pitch they don’t take it personally: they know it’s from me, their friend.”

There are about 25 players on the grass and Ahmed counts 10 nationalities: Syrians, Ghanaians, Sudanese, Chadians. “Five or six don’t speak English yet,” he says. “But that’s the role of football, it’s the common language.”

Changing Lives FC play in the Harlow District League in Essex and its aims are threefold: improve the existences of its members, shift the often negative narrative around refugees and asylum seekers arriving in the country, and win games on the pitch.

Their coach, David Simmons, is a 28-year-old with extraordinary energy and vision whose influence on the group is palpable. “Everyone needs to work hard today, I’m choosing players for Sunday’s game,” he tells them as