Soccer phenom Davies went from refugee camp to soccer pitch stardom
Soccer phenom Alphonso Davies and his former Edmonton Strikers coach, Nick Huoseh, often talk or text after his matches with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Huoseh said they usually go something like this:
“Good job,” texts Huoseh. “Thank you, but I’m not done yet,” replies the 17-year old midfielder.
Huoseh, who now represents Davies as his agent, said the Edmonton-raised soccer star is driven to succeed.
“He’s set his goal,” said Huoseh. “He wants to go to the top.”
Davies, who is set to play in the MLS all-star game in Atlanta this week, took another step closer toward his goal last week when the Whitecaps finalized his transfer to German soccer giant Bayern Munich for a recordbreaking US$22-million transfer deal. He’ll start playing for the international team in 2019.
His journey so far has been one of resilience, humility and determination — with many helping hands along the way.
Davies was born in a refugee camp in Ghana on Nov. 2, 2000, after his parents fled the civil war in Liberia.
“It was hard, it was dangerous. It was hard to live there because the only way you survive sometimes is you have to carry guns too,” said his father, Debeah Davies, in a video made by the Whitecaps. “We didn’t have any interest in shooting guns. So, we decided to just escape from there.”
“Very scary,” added his mom, Victoria Davies. “You had to cross over bodies to go and find food. So the best way is to just get out.”
She said the refugee camp was safe, but there were no schools. The Davies family was able to immigrate to Canada when Alphonso was five, eventually settling in Edmonton.
His mother’s focus has been to make sure her son gets his education — he told reporters in Vancouver last week that he’s hoping to finish high school before he heads overseas. Davies, who became a Canadian citizen in June 2017, often thanks his parents for his success.
“They carried the family to a safe environment in Canada, a safe country,” he said in the Whitecaps video. “I am really happy they did that for us. Being Canadian is a great honour.”
Davies said Edmonton has been a major part of his life. “That’s where I started my soccer, that’s where I played, that’s where I went to school, that’s where my family and my friends live,” he said.
His former coaches agree Davies
is not only a great story for Canadian soccer, but for Alberta and Edmonton.
“It’s great to showcase that soccer is alive and well in our city and in our country,” said coach Marco Bossio, from St. Nicholas Soccer Academy in Edmonton.