Amid the World Cup euphoria a low-key but no less vital competition was played out in the shadow of the Kremlin

A few hours before England’s World Cup game against Colombia in Moscow, a very different series of football matches was under way on Red Square.

There was no penalty shootout drama but off the pitch the stakes for some of those involved were much higher. The five-a-side tournament, held just outside the walls of the Kremlin, pitted teams of refugees against each other, and was meant both as a celebration of diversity through football and as a message to the Kremlin over Russia’s restrictive asylum policy.

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Some of the players had fled conflict in Africa or the Middle East, while others were aspiring footballers from African countries who had been trafficked to Russia with the promise of a playing contract.

One was Joshua Olumide, an 18-year-old from Ondo State in Nigeria, who said his father had taken out a loan to pay a man who promised him a contract with a European club. He was given a Fan ID, the document that allows visa-free travel to Russia for the duration of the World Cup, and told he would be met at the airport in Moscow.

Nobody met him and another Nigerian who had also made the journey with a promise of a contract. He spent five days living in the airport and has since been living in makeshift accommodation in Russia trying to get money together for a ticket home. “It’s very sad but I am going to have to go home. My father took out a big loan to help me come here,” he said.

Russians have welcomed with open arms the hundreds of thousands of foreigners who have descended on the country but it is feared the effect may be only temporary and is unlikely to extend to those seeking sanctuary rather than just arriving for a few weeks of football.

Svetlana Gannushkina, one of the leading Russian rights activists working with migrants and refugees, said Russia’s basic position on asylum is “nobody is given status and we pretend that refugees don’t exist”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The games were described as a reminder that many refugees are talented and hard-working. Photograph: Zelenskaya Natalia/Fare

She said only 592 people had been given refugee status in Russia in recent years. The one exception has been those fleeing the conflict in eastern Ukraine, who have a relatively easy path to either temporary residency or citizenship.

For Syrians, of whom Gannushkina estimated there are between 5,000 and 6,000 seeking refugee status in Russia, the process is much harder: she said only two had been granted status. The tournament on Red Square was a reminder that many refugees are talented and hard-working and she hoped the “celebratory, friendly mood” of the World Cup would continue after the tournament is over.

“It’s really symbolic to have these games played here,” said Piara Powar, the executive director of Fare, an umbrella organisation promoting diversity in football that helped set up the tournament. “To see these guys, some of whom have no papers, whose kids are being fed and educated by volunteer groups, playing football in the shadow of the Kremlin is quite something.”

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He said assurances had been sought and given by Russian authorities that the refugees would not face document checks or arrest if they came to Red Square for the tournament.

Alexei Smertin, the former Chelsea and Russia midfielder, and the anti-racism inspector for Russia’s World Cup committee, played in one of the games, which took place on a five-a-side pitch set up on Red Square for the duration of the World Cup. Other games have included a match between England and Russia fans, which the Russians won 15-1.