Team Spotlight: JOYFUL FC

[Translated from Korean original text]

Words from Yohan Kim: Sponser & Manager of Joyful FC

Living as a Syrian refugee in Lebanon means living without the protection of a nation or society, and without even the smallest circuit of hope for the future. Lebanon, politically, economically, and militarily, is a country that struggles to function. Syria remains in turmoil as well, with many areas so devastated that even the most basic economic activities for survival are impossible.

So what can Syrian refugee children and youth in Lebanon, who play football, think about—or rather, what must they think about? For them, football becomes the only tangible possibility for a future, their only thread of hope. Even if there are no visible results today, they are strengthening their determination to carve out their own futures.

That is what JOYFUL FC is: a team made up of these children.

The team began in April 2021 in Bar Elias, a town in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Football requires so little—just a ball and a small open space where children can run, shout, celebrate, and despair. Bar Elias is the area with the highest density of Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley. One day, I saw children kicking a ball near a futsal court, right next to a refugee settlement of 150 families, with another settlement of about 100 families on the opposite side. That sight led me to gather the children together, rent the futsal court twice a week, and begin football training for kids born between 2009 and 2011.

We brought together about 40 children. For an hour and a half, we did warm-ups, practiced ball control, and then divided into teams for matches. The children eagerly awaited these sessions, enjoying every moment of play. Until then, they had mostly played informally in the streets, without much skill in handling the ball or experience playing by the rules.

In the short term, many dream of being selected for Syria’s youth national team. In the long term, the dream is to represent the senior national team—or to find opportunities to continue playing football in Lebanon, Syria, or elsewhere in the Middle East. Some even dream of one day playing professionally in Europe.