Members of the “ARSIS Football Club”, a team made up of unaccompanied refugees and immigrants will play a friendly against the U-19 Aris football team in an effort to raise awareness against racism and xenophobia. The match will be held at the sports facilities of the Association of Football Clubs of Macedonia at 6.30 in the evening.

ARSIS Football Club is a newly formed group of refugees and immigrants between the age of 16 and 25 who are living in hostels for unaccompanied minors – teens of the ARSIS Youth Support Organisation, in refugee camps and social apartments in Thessaloniki.

The ball of the match will be provided by “Spirit of Football” organisation and will be signed by Deputy Mayor of Education and Sports of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, Alexandros Barbounakis. The support initiatives will continue tomorrow and Saturday, May 12, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where sports workshops will be set up with the participation of young refugees and Greeks involved in sports.

The events will end on Monday, May 14, at a happening that will be held in the morning at ARSIS facilities for unaccompanied youth and minor refugees in Alexandroupoli, where the ball will be signed by SYRIZA MP of the Evros region George Kaisa, as well as by all participants in the initiative.

In 2017 ARSIS supported 3,864 people – including 2,577 minors – from about 30 ethnicities. In particular, it offered 26,794 educational, psychological and sports services, support for job search, housing, medical operations, and distributed basic need essentials.

Also, over the course of 2017, 280 refugee and migrant children enrolled in educational institutions in Thessaloniki, in close cooperation with primary and secondary schools.