UEFA Foundation Holds First Ever Refugee Esports Cup

February 7, 2020

Last week, Libraries Without Borders and the UEFA Foundation for Children held the first Esport tournament in the Syrian refugee camp of Zaatari in Jordan, supported by Facebook, Playstation and Armateam. The project was designed to promote social cohesion and entertainment through access to sport, education, information and culture.  

The “Refugees Esports Cup” took place 26 January to 1 February gathering 200 young people aged 10 to 18, including people with disabilities, who had been training since December. 

The camp, located east of Mafraq, is the temporary refuge for 60,000 Syrians who have fled from civil war. Libraries Without Borders set up an Ideas Box there three years ago - a mobile media library, in kit form, designed by Philippe Starck. Meanwhile, the UEFA Foundation for Children has been offering sports activities for the past five years through football pitches and coach education.

The partners want to make a positive use of video games, which they see as a cultural product that refugees should have access to. They believe that it will enable them - through the duration of the match - to escape from their daily lives and their hard-living conditions. 

“Video games are first and foremost human. Whether they challenge each other, regardless of their stories, the players create a social link, exchange and share with respect. Interactive and inclusive, it brings them entertainment and allows them to escape, tell and create stories. Imagination and creativity are boosted...Finally, with video games, failure - in all its forms - does not exist: it even constitutes the core of learning. And defeat encourages them to carry on and move forward,” stated the UEFA Foundation for Children.