More than 300 participants and visitors from over 20 countries gathered in Birmingham for the first Refugee World Football Championship, which was organized by BH UK Network, the Association of BH Associations in Great Britain, as part of Refugee Week.
The tournament was held at the Moseley Sports Center, and teams representing Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Ukraine, Yemen, the United Kingdom and an international team competed on the field.
The event was officially opened by the Mayor of Birmingham, Lord Zaker Choudhry, together with Simon Foster, Commissioner for the West Midlands. The event was attended by representatives of Birmingham City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, as well as numerous local councilors and community representatives.
In an extremely high-quality and exciting competition, the championship title was won by the national team of Tajikistan, which defeated an excellent team of Ukraine in the final. Third place went to the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Addressing the audience, the Mayor of Birmingham praised the work of the BH UK Network, highlighting their significant contribution to building an inclusive, open and multicultural Birmingham. He emphasized that events like this show how sports can connect people of different cultures, languages and life experiences and further strengthen Birmingham’s position as a city of refuge and community.
The special symbolism of this event is given by the fact that after almost two decades BH UK Network has decided to no longer participate in the diaspora championships organized by the World Federation of BiH Diaspora. That competition has lost its original purpose of connecting the communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina around the world, and the World Alliance of the Diaspora of Bosnia and Herzegovina almost does not exist today in practice as an active organization that brings together the diaspora. For many years, the organization has been managed by the same circle of people led by President Hasan Šehović, without activities and results that would justify the role of the umbrella organization of the Bosnian diaspora.
Instead, BH UK Network decided to invest in projects that bring people together and build new partnerships. The organization of the first Refugee World Championship in Birmingham is an example of such an approach – an event that brought together communities from more than 20 countries through sport and demonstrated the power of diversity and mutual respect.
