Physical activity is one of the most underrated instruments of social change. Sport plays an important cultural role and gives a sense of belonging. Common passion and universal rules create natural conditions for combining them with education. We use football to break prejudices and seek common language between groups, especially those who do not participate in other forms of integration because of linguistic, psychological or financial barriers.

Why is it so important?

We witness racist incidents at stadiums and school playgrounds everyday. Some threw bananas at Dani Alves from the stands, some buzzed monkey chants at Samuel Eto’o. Jews, Roma, LGBTQ and other groups were insulted. Women role is depreciated. FIFA organises championships in the countries where human rights are constantly violated. That’s our problem, because that’s our sport. And it depends on us how it looks.

We are members of Fare, an international network and leader of anti-discriminatory practices in the field of sport. In 2017 Etnoliga was shortlisted for the prestigious Beyond Sport Global Awards.

Our community

We are a group of people who live in Warsaw but come from all around the world. We are of different age: refugees, businessmen, students, workers… All teams are mixed, there are no national teams. Men and women play together, as well. Participants prepare contests, snacks and presentations. A unique scoring system rewards fair play and extra activities. Players themselves decide on additional rules for each season. Participation is free of charge. We regularly do trainings and sparrings, organise charity tournaments and activities for refugee kids. We show up at festivals, fairs and other events to promote our vision of sport.
We also teach coaches, organise workshops for experts and publish manuals on inclusion.

What can be done?

Samuel Eto’o and Kevin Prince Boateng protested leaving the pitch. Dani Alves symbolically ate the banana. thrown from the stands. Maribel Domínguez fought for the right to play in a men’s club. Predrag Pašić gave up his career to lead a football school in the besieged Sarajevo. Carlos Caszely at the peak of his international glory came against the Chilean dictatorship, for which his family paid with tortures. Sócrates fought for democratic standards in his club. Didier Drogba made use of his fame to bring peace in the war-ridden Ivory Coast. We in Poland created Etnoliga.