Alphonso Davies, the nascent Bayern Munich and Canada left-back, has become the first footballer ever to be a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Davies has shot to prominence as one of the best young players in world football, the 20-year-old voted into last year’s UEFA Champions League squad of the season having made Bayern’s left-back spot his own on the way to the club’s second continental treble.
It wasn’t always such plain sailing for Davies, though, whose family left Liberia for Ghana as refugees before emigrating to Canada when the player was five years old.
“I’m proud to join the UN Refugee Agency as a Goodwill Ambassador,” Davies told unhcr.org. “My own experiences make me want to speak up for refugees, to share their stories and to help make a difference.
“Whilst the refugee camp provided a safe place for my family when they fled war, I often wonder where I would have been if I had stayed there and not benefited from the opportunities I got thanks to resettlement. I don’t think I would have made it to where I am today.”
Davies has featured in 27 games in all competitions for Bayern this season, but has been similarly busy away from the field, helping Canadian Government launch their Together for Learning campaign in February before connecting with three young refugees in Liberia, Canada and Germany – in a video launched by UNHCR in collaboration with 433 – in March.
“I want people to know about the importance of helping refugees, wherever they are, in camps or cities, in neighboring countries or countries of resettlement such as Canada,” Davies said.
“Refugees need our support to survive, but also access to education and sports, so they can fulfill their potential and truly thrive.”