“What makes us strong” – the role of sports clubs in facilitating integration of refugees

Many refugees who are located in Germany come from countries with significant cultural differences to the latter and experienced major trauma prior to their arrival. Both factors have been found to affect and hinder integration into the host community. Since refugees have joined over 3000 German clubs, this study focuses on potential factors in clubs that may support or hinder the refugees' integration. Hence, this study explored which structural conditions help refugees get access to clubs and overcome challenges associated with their participation in the organized sports setting, which conditions or factors influence the integration into club life and which characteristic features help or impede the clubs' ability to moderate the refugees' integration into society. While literature shows that influences at the individual and societal level play a significant role in acculturation, the sports club environment may also be important and constitutes a central component of the framework as a potentially moderating factor at other levels. Semi-structured interviews with 35 refugees and 32 professional and voluntary staff members from 15 clubs were conducted. Results indicate that coaches, team members, and club leadership play a key role in helping refugees, and host club members, overcome challenges and support an acculturation strategy towards integration if the refugees' performance matches the club level, and their involvement goes beyond sport.