SEATTLE — Introducing the Socceroos, the Australian men’s national soccer team:
The left wing was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania to parents escaping civil war in Burundi. The central striker was born in a refugee camp in Guinea to parents escaping civil war in Liberia. Another striker was born in the sprawling Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to parents escaping civil war in South Sudan.
A defender is the son of a South Sudanese refugee. Another defender has Ugandan parents. Another defender has a Zimbabwean father.
“It’s crazy,” Nestory Irankunda said, “because who would have thought?”
Certainly not a half-century ago, when the country operated under the White Australia Policy that strictly limited immigration to Europeans and white South Africans.
That began to change in the 1980s with 150 refugees from Ethiopia and really began to change in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Australian government relaxed immigration policies and heralded a new era of multiculturalism. The idea was to alter the face of a nation.
It also altered the face of a national team.
The United States’ World Cup opponent on Friday at Seattle’s Lumen Field has two players born in Scotland, one in Cyprus, another in Italy, another in Croatia and another in Belgium. They produced a two-minute video reflecting that, showing players stating where they were born, interspersed with messages of unity.
“The Socceroos are not just a team,” midfielder Jackson Irvine says in the video. “We are a reflection of modern Australia.”
“There are a lot of journeys behind the jersey,” forward Awer Mabil says next. “To be a Socceroo has many different meanings, but with one purpose, and that is to do the country proud. … The Socceroos are the best representative of what Australia is. You’ve got people from all different kinds of backgrounds.”
The 30-year-old Mabil has been with the national team on and off since 2018, and in many ways blazed the trail for players like Mohamed Toure and Irankunda, Australia’s starting forwards in the 2-0 upset of Turkey. Mabil was born in a Kenyan refugee camp and lived there for 10 years before his family received asylum in Australia. Like many African immigrants, they settled in the southern city of Adelaide.
Toure got there about the same time, when he was 8 months old. Irankunda came next, moving to Perth on Australia’s west coast at 3 months old before the family relocated to Adelaide.
The clubs in Adelaide aren’t as well-funded as their Sydney and Melbourne brethren, and instead poured resources into the growing African immigrant community. All three ultimately played for Adelaide United in the professional A-League. Toure and Irankunda are best friends despite the former being Islamic and the latter Christian, a divide that has been the root of civil war in many African nations.
Just 22 and 20, with the rare combination of speed and skill, they are considered the future of Australian soccer.
Toure left Adelaide United in 2002 for Stade de Reims in France, where he was a teammate of U.S. starting striker Folarin Balogun. He has since moved to Norwich City of England’s second division, scoring a hat trick in his debut and being named the league’s young player of the month for February.
Irankunda was sold to German giant Bayern Munich in 2024 for an A-League record fee of $4.6 million and, after a stop in Switzerland, now plays for Watford, also in England’s second division. Last week, he became the youngest player to score for Australia in a World Cup and celebrated by boxing with the corner flag, an homage to Tim Cahill, the former Socceroo star with Samoan roots who broke racial barriers.
“It’s the country that gave us a chance to live,” Toure said recently. “So I think (the World Cup) would be the best way to pay back.”
Back home in Adelaide, they were regulars in the AFCON SA, or African Nations Cup of South Australia. Held annually since 2000, the event features men’s and women’s teams representing Australia’s 500,000-strong African diaspora in a World Cup-style format. South Sudan has won. So has Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa and DR Congo.
Thousands of fans attend. So, now, do soccer talent scouts.
Immigration rates, like in the United States and Europe, have become something of a political football in Australia. A recent poll found 53% of residents believe it is currently too high, a five-point increase from the previous year’s figures. Just under 40% said it’s about right.
The Socceroos and Australia’s Professional Footballers Association haven’t shied from the issue, weighing in with their video and noting that the World Cup roster has players with Italian, Burundian, Liberian, Turkish-Cypriot, Dutch, Zimbabwean, Scottish, South Sudanese, Serbian and Sri Lankan heritage.
The message, repeated by several players: “No matter where you come from, football is for everyone.”
It quickly went viral.
“It was a moment to describe what Australia is, and Australia is a very multicultural country, and that’s what makes it the best country in the world, in my opinion,” Mabil said of the video. “You have the whole world in one place, and the Socceroos now are a representation of that. You have many different backgrounds representing one jersey.”
Friday’s game against the United States also falls during Global Refugee Week. Mabil has tried to raise awareness through “Barefoot to Boots,” a charity he co-founded that provides sports equipment to youths in refugee camps.
“It’s a week that I would like to say to anybody that is misplaced all over the world that we are with you,” Mabil said. “And we are on the world stage right now, a big tournament, and just to tell you everything is possible, so keep going.”