Soccer game unites American School of Paris, asylum seekers

By Susie Pieper, Jess Schot and Hugo Ward
GSS Correspondents
American School of Paris

VAUCRESSON, France — The Association Pierre Claver soccer team battled the American School of Paris boys varsity soccer team in a match Monday at the ASP home pitch at Stade de la Marche, ending in a hard-fought tie, 3-3.

The teams met at 4 p.m. on a brisk but sunny afternoon. From the beginning, the pace was fast, with both sides strongly pushing upfield. ASP dominated the midfield, however, resulting in a goal by ASP’s Arthur Kauffman at the 12-minute mark.

Pierre Claver responded rapidly, with Montasser Idhhiba scoring a low drive to the left of the keeper at the 18-minute mark. Just before the halftime whistle was blown, ASP’s Matteo Lalonde feathered in a shot off a rebounded save, closing the half at 2-1 for ASP.

The second half started with rapid action and a Pierre Claver goal by Noorulhaq Raissi at the 35-minute mark, tying the game at 2-2. This was followed by another Pierre Claver goal by Milad Abazid at 43 minutes.

ASP goalie Alessandro Colzi Risaliti fell and was carried off the pitch with a back injury, replaced by Stanislaus Lanvin. ASP came back with a goal at the 50-minute mark by captain Nico Bertoni off a penalty, ending the game with a final score of 3-3.

The game between ASP and the Association Pierre Claver, a Paris-based organization that helps asylum seekers to learn about French language, culture and life, was unique.

The Claver team had never played an official match before, and players ranged in age from 19 to 31, older than ASP’s usual opponents.

“It was like a very different game than we usually have as we usually play (high) schools,” said Lalonde. “But this was a very different crowd both age-wise and from where they come from.

“(T)hey’ve walked a lot of kilometers to get to where they are right now,” Lalonde observed. “So I think the game overall was a great experience.”

A calculation by ASP sophomore Anabella Prosperi using information from Association Pierre Claver and player interviews revealed that Claver players traveled a combined 98,179 kilometers from Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan and Syria, where they lived before they were forced to migrate.

The Pierre Claver school, founded in 2008, is located in Paris’ 7th arrondissement and assists asylum seekers coming from countries experiencing political turmoil. It focuses on providing help to refugees, who stay for an average of three to four six-month sessions until they are fully on their feet again.

“In Afghanistan, it was very, very hard,” said Claver player Nemat Amini, 29, on why he left his home country.

“It’s a little bit difficult coming here … very different, very difficult,” he added. “But I prefer to stay here.”

While this game may have appeared to be an ordinary match, the languages spoken by players and bystanders — French, English, Dari, Pashto and Arabic — proved it was not.

Play was delayed for a short time at the start after both teams showed up in matching blue jerseys, with no distinction between who was at home and who had traveled thousands of kilometers of hardship to be there.

ASP players eventually added orange jerseys to their uniforms so that play could begin.

“I thought it was interesting how a difference of age and how different cultures can come play (soccer),” said ASP sophomore Luna Lo Cicero.

Another bystander was Zakaria Abdelkafi,  a photojournalist for Agence France-Presse who fled Syria and is now a student at Pierre Claver.

Wearing a bright green jacket, he took pictures using a telephoto lens. His main work was in Aleppo, where he took “photos of airstrikes, medical photos, people getting hurt, people in camps,” he said, speaking through an ASP student translator.

“Every photo has a story in it,” he added.

—Featured photo: ASP and Claver players line up for a post-game goodbye. Photo by Eloise Seager.