A refugee with a thermal blanket watches the horizon after his arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
A mother holds her child after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
A boat with refugees arrives on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
A refugee girl enjoys herself after the arrival with her family by boat / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
A volunteer guides a refugee boat to the coast / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Volunteers help refugees after their arrival on Lesbos / Skala Skamnias, January 13, 2016.
Hundreds of members of Antifa counter-protesting a ProNRW and Pegida protest at the Cologne Central Station on 6 January 2016.
Pagi is a migrant soccer team in Saridinia, one of the poorest regions in Italy, but a place where migrants were welcomed by immigration centers as a response to the immigrants’ needs, mostly boys from Sub-Saharan Africa.
All asylum seekers want to find a job, however it is very difficult for them to do so in one of the poorest regions of Italy. For this reason the Cooperative decided to create this team to motivate and help these boys, who fled from wars, hunger and poverty that find themselves playing around a ball.
In Sassari, north of Sardinia, one of these centers called "Centro di Prima Accoglienza di Predda Niedda" created the football club ASD PAGI to help with the integration of young migrant boys.
Later, this club was officially registered in the second amateurs league. This is the first case in Italy in which a football club, entirely composed of immigrants without a residence permit and seeking international protection, has obtained from the FGC (Italian Football Federation) authorization to participate in the regional championship.
The immigration center was a hotel before, and it was called "Hotel Pagi". Nowadays, it is managed by the Cooperative ASD which created the football club ASD PAGI. It is the new home of approximately three hundred boys, most of whom come from different Sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Togo and Mali. All of them are waiting the result of the Territorial Commission; the process can be concluded with the recognition of refugee status or subsidiary protection status, or a rejection, against which the applicant may appeal.
ShortDoc by Alice Sassu and Francesco Pistilli
A positive story of sports and integration coming from Sardinia, Sassari. Boys who fled from wars, hunger and poverty have ended up playing with a ball.
In Sardinia, one of the poorest regions in Italy, migrants are welcomed at immigration centres as a response to their emergency condition. The former "Hotel Pagi", located in the industrial area of the city, is now the "Centro di Prima Accoglienza di Predda Niedda", directed by the ASD Cooperative. Pierpaolo Cermelli, Fabiana Denurra and a cultural mediator, named Ali Bouchouata, have decided to create a football team to motivate the young boys and to promote their social integration. The "ASD Pagi" team, coached by Mauro Fanti, faces now the final stages of the championship, in the second regional division.
For the first time in the Italian history, an immigration centre gets approval from the Italian Football Game Federation to participate in a regional football league with a team entirely comprised by asylum seekers, waiting for a residence permission.
The centre homes approximately three hundred young people from different countries in sub-Saharan Africa (such as Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Togo, Mali). Some of these people ran away from family feuds, religious conflicts and dictatorial governments. Some others found themselves without a family, or are simply looking to change their "luck". But they all dream with starting a new life in Europe.
Pending on the resolution of the Territorial Commission, these asylum seekers follow the legal steps of a process that will finish with one the following possible outcomes: a recognition of their refugee status, a subsidiary or humanitarian protection, or their deportation. The bureaucracy is way too slow, and the majority of them must wait at least two or three years to know their fate. Meanwhile, some of them try to defy the football teams of one of the poorest regions of Italy.
After traveling thousands of miles across multiple countries, the players of ASD Pagi use their soccer matches as a temporary escape and a way to forget that they are still in search of a permanent home. Running on their dusty field with their teammates offers a sense of freedom and, perhaps more importantly, a temporary family.
Compared to other regional teams, ASD Pagi sometimes struggles to practice before the season begins. At the season opener, they played on their home field but lost.
A woman from Syria embraces her son as refugees and migrants riding a dinghy reach the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on November 13, 2015.
With Sardinia already one of Italy's poorest regions, it is challenging for refugees to find a job. Sometimes they are reduced to begging for change from passerby.
Part of the all-migrant football team living inside an immigration centre in a suburb of Sassari, in Sardinia, Italy. Sometimes the ASD Pagi football club organizes friendly games with other teams composed of refugees at other immigration centres.
Mujeeb Adebisi, 19 years-old, from Nigeria. Mujeed was football player in his country. Mujeed lost his sister in a car accident in which he was the driver. After her death he faced many problems in the neighbourhood and had to leave. Mujeeb during his journey north he has passed through Niger before arriving in Libya. In Libya he was kidnapped and had to live for two months in a small room with many other refugees. Mujeeb is a new player for the all-refugee football club "ASD Pagi".
Part of the Nigerian team on the bench. Sometimes the ASD Pagi football club organizes friendly games with another team composed of others migrants hosted in the same Immigration Centre.
Sometimes ASD Pagi will play other teams composed of refugees. For Orobosa Andrew, an ASD player, and Collins, a fellow refugee playing on another team, itâs a chance to reconnect.
At Centro di Prima Accoglienza di Predda Niedda, Nigerian boys are playing football on the lay-by. There are almost 100 Nigerians inside this centre. Most of them have received the first negative response by the Territorial Commission. The process can be concluded with the recognition of refugee status, subsidiary protection status, or a rejection, against which the applicant may appeal.
Refugees and migrants arrive from the Turkish coast on a wooden boat to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday Oct. 26, 2015.
Each paid €2,200 to Turkish smugglers to come to Lesbos on a boat that brought more than a hundred people.
Konate Adama, 18, is from Ivory Coast. Adama lost his parents during the Ivory Coast war (2011). He lived with his uncle, however when he decided to sell the land of the family, Adama and his brother refused and they had to escape. He left his country and in his journey crossed Burkina Faso, Niger until to Libya.
ASD Pagi home open was a tough game, mainly because the team had only been able to begin training one month before the beginning of the season.
Nigerian boys on the lay-by of the Centre. The day after, they had to play with the official football club Pagi. Sometimes the ASD Pagi football club organizes friendly games with another team composed of other migrants hosted in the same Immigration Centre.
18 year-old Yousuf Lawal and 20 year-old Victory Fgene both traveled to Italy via Libya from Nigeria. Victory's mother was killed by his father, he said. Today, he is ASD Pagi's best player.
Part of the ASD Pagi team on the bench. They played at home and lost the game. The team began training only a month before the beginning of the regional football league season.
The team's matches draw in a mix of local and refugee spectators. For many of the migrants housed at the center, waiting is a common activity as they cannot leave the center for more than two days at a time and cannot look for work until their applications for refugee or protected status are approved.
Part of the Nigerian team on the bench. Sometimes the ASD Pagi football club organizes friendly games with another team composed of others migrants hosted in the same Immigration Centre.
Asylum seekers on the field in Caniga, a suburb of Sassari, where they train and will play the championship match.
Many of the team members have traveled a long way to get here. Yusuf Lawal spent two months in transit to reach Italy.
Cinthya Collins nursing her baby during a match of Pagi's football club at the home field. Cinthya was hosted in an immigration centre in the South of Sardinia while she was pregnant and her husband Collins was living at the centre in Sassari. The baby will be born in Sassari this July and now they are living all together in Sassari. Collins is a player at Pagi's football club.
Scifo Mohamed Diallo inside the immigration centre. Scifo, 19 years-old, is from Conarky, Guinea. He lost his entire family during the stadium massacre in September 2009. The massacre was lead by military junta Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. Security forces raped, killed, and wounded protesters during a protest rally in the stadium. Scifo survived, living on the streets in Senegal fro two years until he decided to start the long journey to Libya. After two years working in Libya, he planned the journey by boat to Europe. Now, Scifo is waiting for the result of the Territorial Commission and plays in the Pagi football club.
Mousa Balde, 18 years old, from Senegal and Omar Kartu, 18 years old, from Gambia are members of the football club Asd Pagi. Mousa left his country for religious issues. All of his community is Muslim but his mother and Mousa are Christians and their lives were in danger. Like most people from Gambia, Omar has had political problems with the military government of Yahya Jammeh. His brother is in the military and did something the regime is angry with and they were no longer safe.
Mousa Balde, 18, fled Senegal because he said his family's Christian faith was not tolerated in their predominantly Muslim community. Omar Kartu, also 18, fled the Gambia when his brother, a member of the national military, ran afoul of the country's dictator Yahya Jammeh, he said.
Alhagie Amadou Jallow, 24 years old, was born in Gambia. One day, he was kidnapped by secret agents in Gambia, tortured, and accused of being part of the regime's opposition. Alhagie was kidnapped by secret agents in Gambia, tortured, and accused of being part of the regime's opposition. They had recorded a chat with a friend where he was talking about the regime. Gambiaâs president Yahya Jammeh is frequently accused of human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings, torture and the muzzling of journalists. Jallo escaped and started the long journey to Libya and later to Europe. In Sicily he was accused of being a smuggler only because he was helping to save the lives of everyone on the boat. Jallo lived for some months in a jail in Sicily and was then released and transferred to the immigration centre in Sassari. Now, Jallo is waiting for the recognition of international protection, he knows a little Italian and he is helping the coach by translating in English, French, Mandinka and Wolof for all the players.
Asylum seekers outside the entrance of the immigration centre where almost 300 refugees seeking international protection are living. Most of them come from Sub-Saharan countries like Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Togo and Mali.