My Food Is A Ball

Sofia Wais, Austria

The Homeless World Cup is an annual football tournament organized by the Homeless World Cup Foundation, a social organization which advocates the end of homelessness through football. Caritas Styria organizes the Homeless World Cup Austria project, bringing together homeless people, recovering drug addicts and refugees from across Austria. Of all the nations at the Homeless World Cup, Austria stands out as having high proportion of refugees on the team. In 2016 a women’s team was created and in 2019 they were able to participate in the 17th Homeless World Cup in Cardiff, Wales.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?

I'm Sofia, I am 19 years old, from Afghanistan and unfortunately I was raised in Iran. I have been living with my family in Austria for four years and have six older brothers. I was not allowed to play football as a girl in Iran, I was always criticized for being an Afghani in Iran. I never had the idea to play football, as I only ever saw boys playing. 

When I was new here in Austria, I went to the youth centre. At that time, I hated football. But the youth centre offered me the chance to play football, and I said I would try it for one day. But in that one day, I saw I really liked it. It wasn’t very easy with my family at first. We had some discussions about why I was playing football and not wearing my headscarf anymore. But I kept fighting for this and now everything is fine. Everyone just accepts that I play football. One day there was an invitation to try out for the Homeless World Cup team. And I was selected to represent Austria. 

It means that everyone sees me as a human being. In Iran I wasn’t accepted. No one spoke to me and I was more or less ignored. But here I am part of a team and that is what I really enjoy and love. 

I am very happy that I am allowed to live in Austria. I spend my whole day playing football. I love football and my food is just a ball - it gives me energy. Hopefully someday I can help all the girls in my country so they can get involved in sports. I also had tough days because of football, but for me life is like a carousel and it always turns.

How was your experience of the Homeless World Cup in Wales?

I really cannot find the words. My most beautiful times were with those people in Cardiff. Whenever I think about it, I cry, because it was a wonderful time with all people from different countries. And we humans should always be thankful for our health.

What are the opportunities for female footballers in Austria?

Austria is a country of democracy and the status of women is very high.  There are many opportunities for women here.  Sometimes I think it is a paradise here because there are good opportunities for everything. Austria is exactly the opposite of my country, because unfortunately my country is hellish for women.

What does football mean to you? 

Football means avoiding alcohol, avoiding misguided friends, avoiding cigarettes and drugs, avoiding illusion, avoiding any other bad work, avoiding falling in love, avoiding the senses of today's cowardly boys, avoiding fear, avoiding being shy and of being disgusted. It helped me not go to any of these.

To all the girls my age, you cannot say “I cannot do this” or “I am not allowed to do this”. Because I have experienced this in my life. You have to fight for everything. I was fighting to play football and I made it.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

I wanted to show that it does not matter if you are healthy or ill, we have to fight against everything to reach our goals, and fun is very important in life. No matter which skin colour or which nationality you have.

Who is in the photos? Where were the photos taken?

The most beautiful photos were of a boy without a foot and a boy that had really burned his body. But they had a really nice energy to play with, and they always energised me. My favourite photo is with the actor Michael Sheen because he really helped us a lot, and the boy with no foot and other boy who had burned himself. One photo was taken after the game, I think when we scored a few goals, and we all felt great after the game.