'My brother hid in a rice sack': The refugee stars playing at the World Cup

When Antonio Rudiger entered the fray as a substitute during Germany's World Cup opener - a 7-1 victory over Curacao at the Houston Stadium - he knew his large extended family would be watching on proudly.

But things could have been very different if the Real Madrid defender's parents had not managed to flee Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war for a new life in Europe.

"There was only the decision to get out of there," Rudiger told BBC Sport Africa.

"I spoke many times with my brother about it, and he told me the stories of what he saw there and what a march they made from Kono (the family's home district in the far east of Sierra Leone) to the capital city to find a bit of safety."

The distance between Kono and the capital Freetown is approximately 210 miles (340km) and the journey proved perilous, with Rudiger's uncle taking extreme action to prevent his nieces and nephews being swept up by rebels and turned into one of the thousands of child soldiers forced into battle during the conflict.

"[He] hid them in a bag of rice and then went back to get them and then to continue the journey. And sometimes they had to lay low, pretending they [were] dead to not get shot or to not get abducted."

Rudiger, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Berlin after his family were accepted by Germany as refugees, while other relatives began new lives in other places such as the UK and the US.

The 33-year-old remembers growing up in one of Germany's refugee centres.

"We had our room, then a family next to us had their room, so we were all together.

"It influenced me a lot because nothing is given in life. You have to work for things, you have to sacrifice a lot to get where you sometimes get your goal."

In a tournament in which diaspora players and fans have already made their mark, the two-time Champions League winner says now is "the right time to raise a voice" in support of refugees - and he is not alone.

Alphonso Davies, captain of co-hosts Canada, spent his early years in a Ghanaian refugee camp after his parents fled Liberia, which like Sierra Leone was devastated by civil war during the 1990s and early 2000s.

"Canada means a lot to me," the Bayern Munich full-back told the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which has put together a symbolic "game-changing team" of refugee players to show "what is possible when young people displaced by war and persecution find safety, opportunity and welcome".

Davies listed "going to school for the first time, being able to play the sport that I love and being able to make friends" among his memories of his adoptive country. "They welcomed us in with open arms."

"They gave me the opportunity to be who I am and to be what I want to be in life."

Changing global narrative around refugees?

Among the other players putting their name to the UNHCR campaign are Rudiger's Real team-mate Eduardo Camavinga, whose parents left Angola for France, Nigeria winger Victor Moses, whose parents resettled in the UK, former Bosnia goalkeeper Asmir Begovic - who like Rudiger was welcomed by Germany after escaping war in the Balkans when he was four years old - and striker Ali Al-Hamadi, whose family fled Iraq after his father was jailed by Saddam Hussein's regime.

Australia is also represented by a trio of forwards in the national team: Watford's Nestory Irankunda, Norwich's Mohamed Toure and Awer Mabil, who plays for Castellon in Spain's second tier.

Irankunda, 20, made headlines when his strike in the 2-0 win over Turkey made him the Socceroos' youngest World Cup goalscorer.

All three were either born or grew up in African refugee camps but are now getting the chance to impress on football's biggest stage.

Australia's professional footballers' association is so proud of the squad's multicultural makeup that it made a video with every player listing their place of birth or family heritage to showcase the benefits of immigration.

"Children and youth are among the most vulnerable during displacement from war, violence and persecution. Some are separated from their families, affected by trauma, and some suffer abuse," said Barham Salih, high commissioner for refugees with the UN, which estimates that there are 48.8 million displaced children around the world.

But while players with backgrounds as refugees will be cheered at the World Cup, some of those involved in the UN campaign have concerns about changing global perceptions.

"The narrative goes a bit more blaming the refugees," said Rudiger, who believes empathy for the plight of those escaping conflict has diminished.

"Obviously, you have always the good and the bad. This is life, we all are not perfect. But the thing is, if one person does bad, are all bad?

"You cannot smear it on everyone, because that's not fair. Because you have people who come here, they really want to change their life, they're doing good, they're trying to learn. They learn the language, they go to school, they achieve something in life."

Tournament unfolds after US cut numbers

In January 2025, immediately after his inauguration, Republican US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the US Refugee Admissions Programme (USRAP).

Trump said the move would allow US authorities to prioritise national security and public safety.

Since it was launched in 1980, USRAP has seen approximately 3.7 million refugees admitted into the States, including 504,000 Africans.

In October, the Trump administration said it would limit the number of refugees to 7,500 over the current US fiscal year, giving priority to white South Africans following Trump's widely discredited claims of a "genocide" against Afrikaners.

Recent figures from the US Department of State show that 6,069 refugees were admitted in the seven months from October to April - and all but three of them came from South Africa.

In contrast, the final full year of Democratic President Biden's term saw 100,034 refugees accepted into the US, with 34,017 coming from 32 African nations. The Democratic Republic of Congo saw the highest number (19,923), with Somalia (4,801), Eritrea (2,411) and Sudan (2,184) also prominent.

The decision to cut refugee acceptance numbers to a record low has been defended by the Trump administration as being "justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest", but was opposed by campaigners.

"Sadly, right now, the most vulnerable in Africa and across the world have been shut out entirely," Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive of Global Refuge, a non-profit organisation which has previously worked with the State Department to resettle refugees, told BBC Sport Africa.

"What we will see [at the World Cup] is the US spending this summer celebrating, as they should, what humans can achieve when they're given a chance.

"US policymakers have spent the past year making sure fewer people get that chance, and it is a stark and deeply troubling contradiction."

Meanwhile in Canada, the annual number of refugees being accepted has increased over the last decade – even as policymakers in recent years have shifted towards more restrictive immigration policies of their own.

Over a 10-year period, data from the country's Refugee Protection Division (RPD) reveals that 9,972 refugees claims were accepted in 2016, rising to 50,067 in 2025.

Thirty-eight African nations were represented in Canada's most recent figures, with Nigeria seeing the highest number of claims accepted.

The USA hosted its first World Cup in 1994, a year in which more than 100,000 refugees were resettled in the country.

"We knew back then that hosting the world and welcoming the world were not separate ideas," said O'Mara Vignarajah. "But we have seem to have forgotten that."

Star players like Rudiger and Davies hope to jog people's memories as they turn out for the nations which welcomed them and their families.