Aussie Mabil completes journey from refugee camp to big stage

SYDNEY: Awer Mabil (pic) will complete a remarkable journey from a refugee camp to the planet’s biggest sporting spectacle when he lines up for Australia at the World Cup, overcoming personal tragedy along the way.

The winger’s rise from humble beginnings is the stuff dreams are made of and the 27-year-old, who plays in La Liga for Cadiz, has never forgotten where he came from.

“Obviously it was the foundation for me. It gave me a lot of values that I still carry to this day,” he told Australian broadcaster SBS of his early life.

“One of the main things is humbleness – to always be humble – that’s what I learned from being in that environment from that age.”

Mabil was born in a refugee camp in Kenya after his parents fled conflict in Sudan, surviving on one meal a day as a child and kicking around a ball – usually a sock filled with plastic bags – barefoot to pass the time.

“I was born in a hut, a little hut. My hotel room is definitely bigger than the hut, the room we had as a family in that refugee camp,” he said.

“For Australia to take us in and resettle us, it gave me and my siblings and my whole family a chance at life.

“That’s what I mean by thanking Australia for that chance of life, that chance of opportunity they allowed my family.”

After being resettled in Australia in 2006, with the help of his uncle, he developed his football enough to join A-league club Adelaide United, becoming one of their youngest debutants at 17 years and 118 days.

In 2015, he moved to Europe with Danish side Midtjylland, playing a part in their title-winning campaign in 2020 and fulfilling a lifelong dream to be in the UEFA Champions League.