#6 Soccer And The Somali Stars

What role can soccer play in bringing people together from different backgrounds and life experiences?

In this episode we hear from the teenage members of the Somali Stars-- a team of refugee kids in Utah, who are now part of the Cottonwood Football Club, playing other local teams. We also spoke to Mohammed, their 21-year-old founder and coach, tells us about his passionate commitment to the team.

Adam Miles founded the non-profit group Refugee Soccer, which provides financial support and assistance to the Somali Stars, is also a guest. Adam started Refugee Soccer after he raised money to send regulation soccer balls to poor communities in West Africa

"I started realizing instead of going eight thousand miles to Nigeria, I can go eight miles and have access to almost sixty thousand refugees in Salt Lake City, in the valley here," Adam told host Ahmed Badr.

We spoke with journalist, Franklin Foer, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. He explains why refugees and migrants are essential to the future of soccer in America.