The refugee football team 'uplifting' its players

At a training ground in Oxford, a football team made up purely of refugees and asylum seekers who have relocated to the city is training ahead of the new season.

Last season marked Oxford Phoenix FC's first ever within the English football pyramid, four years after the club was first founded in 2021.

The team, which is made up exclusively of refugees and asylum seekers, finished 11th in division five of the Oxfordshire Senior League whilst also making it to a cup final.

But the club's first season in the football league structure wasn't all plain sailing, with issues, including abuse from opposition teams, rearing their heads during 2025/26.

Youcef El-Barhdadi, is the founder and chairman of Oxford Phoenix, said: "In March 2025, the project was basically done, we didn't have funding to continue it."

"So reaching a final is really a kind of a confirmation of that hard work that we put in in when we essentially thought all hope was lost and the project was no longer going to run.

Despite a narrow defeat to Chesterton Reserves in the Ivor Gubbins Cup Final in May, El-Barhdadi said: "To play in front of 250 people and for people to pay to come and watch us is just everything that this team is supposed to be."

"It's about uplifting people and helping our players realise their true potential not just as footballers, but as people."

Coach Denis Mao'Mahad said there had been "a lot of progress" within the team throughout its inaugural league season.

"Obviously apart from being very good footballers, they are really really good footballers, they just have a fantastic spirit about them," Mao'Mahad said.

He highlighted the preparation for the end of season cup final as a time when some "really standout players" took on "big responsibilities, didn't shy away and were just on it".

For players like Mohammad, who came to the UK from Afghanistan two years ago, the team provides a lifeline in his new home.

"I have to play football, because my life without football is nothing," he said.

Teammate Arvin, 18, recently arrived in Oxford from Iran - where the Islamic Republic's government has systematically oppressed the Kurdish minority of which he is part.

"It's a beautiful country, but nowadays it's not very beautiful because of some political things that happen over there," he said of his home.

"If your life is in danger, you have to come here - whether it's a long or short process - when you are in a safe place so it doesn't matter already."

The 18-year-old said joining the Phoenix had helped him "find a lot of friends" in his new city, adding that the club "basically means family".

Away from football, 2026 is not an easy time to be an asylum seeker or refugee in the UK - with backlogs in Home Office processing combining with small boat channel crossings to make the topic a political football.

That anger, El-Barhdadi said, had at times spilt over onto the football pitch during the Phoenix's first season of competitive matches.

"We're living in a world where refugees and asylum seekers are seen in a negative light and I suppose we exist to prove that that's not the case," he said.

He said the club had reported some incidents to the Oxfordshire FA, after experiencing "lots" of negative comments.

As a way of attempting to break-down barriers between the Phoenix and opposition teams, El-Barhdadi introduced post match food after the club's home games.

"Most of those opposition teams don't have any connections with refugees or asylum seekers they probably have never met one," he said.

"Food after after the game with the opposition really allows anything that happened on the pitch to stay on the pitch because you have that space post game to just speak, relax and find those connections."

Following the club's up-and-down first season, El-Barhdadi said the Phoenix will "just keep building".

As the team now prepares to kick-off its second year within the English football pyramid, he said: "It's not about linear growth necessarily, it's just about continuing to support our players through the challenges that they face."

"We'd love to go and be successful on the pitch and we're as competitive as any other football club, but we also have to know that every day we exist is a success for us."

"We look forward to continuing this and having many more successes in the future."

For Mao'Mahad, the priority for the 2026/27 season was more grounded by achievements on the pitch.

"I've told the boys I want to win the league," he said, before adding: "Another cup run would also be nice."