Prince Ali of Jordan: Soccer Can Help Refugees

My home country of Jordan hosts more than 600,000 refugees from neighboring Syria. Up to 3,000 people a day have been crossing the border, fleeing the horrors of Syria’s internal strife. Jordan, like Lebanon, Turkey and now the E.U., is struggling to cope.

Once, Jordan had two formal border crossings with Syria. Today, it has more than 30 as it struggles to handle the influx. Many are bound for the safety of refugee camps, where they can get access to food, shelter and medical care through a raft of agencies committed to their care.

Tragically, about half the Syrian refugees registered in Jordan are children.

I have helped set up these camps and some of the programs that support them. These sprawling tent cities serve an important humanitarian purpose, but they are hardly a glorious accomplishment. They can be hot, dusty and challenging places. Take, for example, Zaatari camp, just six miles from Syria’s border in a desolate and treeless stretch of desert.

It is hard to imagine that football could play any role at all in such a harsh environment, but it is here where you will see the very best side of the game, in contests played out on barren, makeshift pitches.

It is quite remarkable to watch. Most of these young people have paid a terrible price. Loved ones are missing or lost, homes destroyed. Their futures are far from certain.

Yet, looking on from the sidelines scratched out in the dirt, their faces belie all that has gone before. Instead of sadness there is the unbridled joy of being able to play football.

There is something in the DNA of this game that enables it to deliver so much more than a simple sporting contest. It instills in these boys and girls the power of teamwork, the need for personal discipline. It brings structure to their lives. And it makes them smile.

Nearly four years ago I founded the Asian Football Development Project to promote the game among the continent’s young people. It has worked alongside a range of agencies to bring football to refugee children and disadvantaged communities. It has been strikingly successful.

So, when I say that football has the potential to be a global unifying force for good, it is not some fanciful notion, nor is it a case of wishful thinking. Football is rebuilding lives and building bridges right now. I have seen it in the deserts of Jordan. It can be seen in the villages of Africa. And it fulfills this same promise every weekend down at your local park.

FIFA does not own football. It belongs to the players from all walks of life, the coaches, the officials, and the countless millions of fans around the globe.

The sport’s governing body has long recognized the need to develop the game at grassroots level, but its progress has been haphazard to say the least. It could do so much better.

There are huge disparities within the sport, which stands as an indictment on an organization that generated record revenues of more than $5.7 billion from 2011 to 2014. That makes for a healthy balance sheet in any language.

Despite this, some nations struggle to provide even the barest of essentials to play the sport—footballs, kits, equipment or adequate pitches. Others, especially island nations, struggle with the cost of travel in order to compete.

Jordan’s football association, of which I am president, is no stranger to the challenges of funding. It has passion in abundance, but lacks the resources to allow its players to reach their full potential. It is far from alone in this regard.

All such nations need and deserve the help of FIFA, which has an obligation to support development worldwide without playing politics or showing favoritism in how its crucial development funding is distributed. For too long, development cash has been used as a favor to be bestowed in return for loyalty to FIFA’s leadership. This has to stop.

The criteria and path to access development money must be laid out clearly. FIFA needs to share that money in a simpler, more rational, transparent and honest manner. It needs a program that is flexible and delivers tailored support where it is most needed.

The existing program has tended to drip-feed funds to members—a strategy that may have ensured political loyalty to FIFA’s leadership, but invariably kept development in first gear.

Some nations would benefit from help with funding applications and support in delivering development projects. To do this right, FIFA needs to establish regional development offices with experienced FIFA staff who can guide members each step of the way.

FIFA needs to substantially boost financial assistance to all member associations, distributed annually. I have proposed increasing it from $250,000 to $1 million a year, but in return FIFA should expect to see concrete benefits from this investment. This annual funding should be able to be set across four-year cycles, with a reassessment after each World Cup.

The game must put behind it a culture that puts personal gain ahead of football. We must ensure that money earmarked for development is spent wisely. The sport needs credible leadership, transparency and good governance to rebuild the trust of players, officials, supporters and sponsors.

With that will come a fresh focus on football, and only then can FIFA truly get on with pursuing its core mission of developing the game.

FIFA must also nurture the game at the top level, but in doing so recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work with the more accomplished footballing nations any more than it will work with developing countries.

All member associations have individual needs. FIFA must listen, learn and work alongside them for the good of the game. It must understand the difference between helping and meddling.

The biggest growth area in world football is in the women’s game, and FIFA would ignore this at its peril. It must boost investment in women’s football, from grassroots to elite level. We must continue to remove barriers to women playing. It is for this reason I led the push to overturn FIFA’s 2007 ban on women playing football in the hijab, the traditional Islamic head covering.

The development of football must be a core objective for FIFA. We must not forget that most member nations have never managed to qualify a team for the World Cup. By contrast, some of their close neighbors would consider it a failure if their squad fell short of reaching the knockout stage.

Football is more than just a game. It is a sporting icon understood in every nation and in every walk of life. Football transcends race, culture, religion and ethnicity. It is truly universal.

It matters not whether you play on the manicured turf of London’s Wembley Stadium, a suburban park in Connecticut, or a field in a refugee camp in Jordan. Football is with us for the good of all, and our guardianship of the game must be impeccable.