The Intersection Between Sports and Social Change
From promoting inclusivity to addressing social injustices, sports have a unique ability to break racial barriers, and play a significant role in peacebuilding and shaping social progress.
How Global FC Uses Soccer to Uplift Refugee & Immigrant Youth
Global FC (Global Futbol Community) began as a community development initiative during a time when refugee resettlement was becoming a major focus of public discourse both in the U.S. and around the world. Launched in Kansas City, Global FC was created to address this challenge by using the power of sport to bring together diverse cultures and build just, inclusive communities—places where every individual is fully known, fully loved, and empowered to pursue their God-given purpose and potential.
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Turning Soccer into a Lifeline for Refugee Youth
In 2013, Mariya’s move to Kansas City and a visit to Syrian refugee camps in Jordan reshaped her understanding of displacement. Amid the trauma she witnessed, she saw how soccer offered healing, connection, and hope to refugee children.
Returning home with a renewed mission, Mariya launched Global FC—a grassroots program that meets refugee youth not just with academic and athletic support, but with belonging, cultural affirmation, and unconditional care. At its heart, Global FC believes in the power of sport to heal, uplift, and transform lives.
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CHASING GOALS: The Story of Kansas City’s Most Resilient Soccer Club
CHASING GOALS is a feature length documentary that follows Global FC, a soccer club made up of refugees from 29 countries, as they battle for survival on and off the pitch in Kansas City’s underserved Old Northeast. These young athletes struggle to overcome cultural differences, food insecurity and crime while they train to play in the nation’s most prestigious youth soccer tournament – The USA Cup.
Check out the official website and check back for updates regarding the film’s premiere!
“ Soccer is not only the great equalizer, it is a universal sport and language that speaks into the hearts of people around the world. Soccer plays a crucial role that supports youth in various ways and connects communities that share different beliefs, languages, nationalities, and religions. It is used in refugee camps to inject life and a sense of normality for displaced youth, it assisted in the healing process to transform child soldiers back to children in post war Rwanda and Sierra Leon, and the United Nations recognizes soccer as …..the most effective sport in the international development field. Sport has become a world language, a common denominator that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers. It is a worldwide industry whose practices can have a widespread impact. Most of all, it is a powerful tool for progress and development.”
Secretary-General of the UN Ki-moon (2011)
