{"id":4290,"date":"2026-06-19T05:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290"},"modified":"2026-06-19T05:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:36:20","slug":"awer-mabil-is-proud-to-represent-australia-as-one-of-teams-refugees-playing-in-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290","title":{"rendered":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
FILE – Australia\u2019s Awer Mabil during their international soccer friendly against Curacao in Melbourne, Australia, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

ALAMEDA, Calif. \u2014 Awer Mabil\u2019s face quickly turned to pure joy. He beamed and fought his emotions, a reaction Australia\u2019s veteran forward hardly could have seen coming.<\/p>

Read more Valenzuela hits go-ahead double in Blue Jays\u2019 win over Red Sox<\/a><\/p>\n

It had nothing to do with a soccer result, either. But rather a reflection that took him back to his tumultuous youth as a refugee and how some good fortune landed him in Australia for a new start in life.<\/p>\n

Mabil looked into the audience during his media conference after training Tuesday and discovered a familiar face in David Basheer, the longtime commentator on Australia\u2019s SBS network who had just offered a question days ahead of the Socceroos\u2019 World Cup<\/a> matchup against the United States on Friday in Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up watching you,\u201d Mabil said, so taken aback that he asked Basheer to repeat himself.<\/p>\n

A touching moment, in this pressure-packed, every-four-years spectacle, and yet one more example of Mabil\u2019s refreshing sincerity as one of the Aussies\u2019 key faces at this World Cup, no matter how many minutes he plays.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an ambassador from Down Under, to be sure.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Mabil also represents the persistence it took to prevail and get this far, given his daunting path. He was born in Kakuma, Kenya, to South Sudanese parents who had escaped civil war, and he moved to Australia 20 years ago at age 10 through the country\u2019s humanitarian resettlement program. He began playing organized soccer in Adelaide, South Australia state.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fitting that Mabil is sharing his story during Refugee Week, with World Refugee Day on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Refugee Week and it\u2019s a week that I would like to say to anybody that is misplaced all over the world that we are with you,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we are in a world stage right now, in a big tournament \u2014 and just to tell you everything is possible, so keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mabil is making contributions in many ways. He took part in a video message about diversity<\/a> ahead of the World Cup that went viral.<\/p>\n

The message: \u201cNo matter where you come from, football is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s coincidence again that it\u2019s Refugee Week in the World Cup and also at the same time you have many refugees in the team. And at the same time, when I reflect back, I\u2019m like we all belong to this world together,\u201d Mabil said. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re representing Australia.\u201d<\/p>

Read more US hopes to give fans reason to revel when it faces Australia in Seattle, with or without Pulisic<\/a><\/p>\n

He considers himself a \u201cbig brother\u201d to teammates Mo Tour\u00e9 and Nestory Irankunda, fellow refugees from Africa.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Irankunda<\/a> became the youngest player to score a World Cup goal for the Socceroos in a 2-0 win over Turkey on Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia.<\/p>\n

The Australians want to show how far the country has come at the World Cup level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we\u2019re starting to gain a little bit more respect,\u201d defender Alessandro Circati said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be the underdogs for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mabil will do his part to help the Socceroos build something special.<\/p>\n

He played briefly as a substitute in two group-stage matches four years ago for the Aussies, then didn\u2019t get on the field for the opener this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of the boys,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of the young boys now making the difference for the national team all come through Adelaide, and it\u2019s a credit to the football community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and his mates are loving the omelet bar and lining up for it at their team headquarters, the Claremont Resort and Club in nearby Berkeley. They are training at the former headquarters of the NFL\u2019s Oakland Raiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing in as a senior player I think is more mental that you have to be present for the younger ones. Sometimes you want to slap them,\u201d Mabil joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll play my role to the best of my abilities to be available for the young ones and also the older ones because the older ones also they go through difficulties so they don\u2019t have all the answers \u2014 nobody has all the answers. We just have to continue to be there for each other. In these kind of tournaments, it\u2019s very important to remain united.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Parts of Trump\u2019s Iran deal sharply criticized by some key Republicans<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia in the World Cup because of the country\u2019s history of taking in refugees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAwer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia in the World Cup because of the country\u2019s history of taking in refugees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e5da73d7be5e94affaa1455bf953a200-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290\"},\"wordCount\":801,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290\",\"name\":\"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"FILE - Australia's Awer Mabil during their international soccer friendly against Curacao in Melbourne, Australia, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\\\/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4290#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia in the World Cup because of the country\u2019s history of taking in refugees","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e5da73d7be5e94affaa1455bf953a200-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup","datePublished":"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290"},"wordCount":801,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290","name":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team's refugees playing in the World Cup - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-19T05:36:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7ead8a7317cdf965f1eb0ded3a1a9823-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"FILE - Australia's Awer Mabil during their international soccer friendly against Curacao in Melbourne, Australia, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4290#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}