To mark World Refugee Day 2026, the FIFA Foundation is highlighting football-based activities in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi, delivered through its collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Every week, hundreds of children gather to play football in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, supported by coaches from refugee and host communities. The coaches first completed their training in 2024 and returned for a refresher course in May 2026, continuing their journey towards a coaching licence and building new skills they can take back into their communities.

“Before football, I felt lost in the camp,” explains one coach involved in the programme. “But when I started coaching, everything changed.” For Christian Babwine, Chairperson of the Dzaleka Sports Association and part of the FIFA Foundation x UNHCR football coach training programme, the impact is also collective. “Among us we are gathering seven countries in one place. We are helping each other,” he said. “We are preaching love among ourselves. And today we are living like one people.”

According to UNHCR, more than 117 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced due to conflict, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. Children and young people make up a significant proportion of displaced populations, often facing barriers to education, social inclusion, and mental wellbeing. Sport, and football in particular, has proven value as a tool to support psychosocial health, strengthen social cohesion, and foster inclusion for displaced people and host communities alike. As part of FIFA’s social impact campaigns at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, Unite for Peace highlights the game’s role in fostering dialogue, respect and social cohesion, encouraging the global football community to come together and take action for peace. In Dzaleka, that message is reflected at community level: coaches becoming leaders, children finding safe spaces to play, and refugee and host communities coming together through football.

The work in Malawi forms part of the wider partnership between the FIFA Foundation and UNHCR, which was formalised through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2023, committing to use football as a tool for protection, inclusion and opportunity for displaced communities. From that original agreement, the FIFA Foundation and UNHCR have actively worked to increase refugees’ and host communities’ access to football and skills development. The collaboration aligns with UNHCR’s Sport Strategy and is embedded within UNHCR’s work helping facilitate dialogue between refugee and host communities and promoting access to regular and quality football activities that include women and men.

Building upon activities delivered in 2025 in Armenia, Malawi, Morocco, and Poland, the collaboration has continued to expand in 2026, most recently through additional coach training activities with refugee and host communities in Mexico City, Mexico in June. Unite for Peace is currently being promoted during the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage matches. All players from the 48 participating teams are wearing Unite for Peace sleeve patches and the campaign is marked in all stadiums with LED and giant screen activations.