In early 2016 Lighthouse Relief started working in a number of refugee camps on mainland Greece. Firstly at Idomeni, on the border with North Macedonia, then at Katsikas, near Ioannina in the north west of Greece.

We helped establish a rudimentary pitch next to the informal EKO camp at Idomeni, and our staff organised basic football sessions for children in Katsikas camp. In November 2016 we helped facilitate the visit of the Barça Players Association (veterans and legends from FC Barcelona) who came to Katsikas camp. The ex-players ran football coaching sessions for around 200 refugee children from Katsikas and other nearby camps. The visiting Barça veterans included Gica Popescu, former club captain and Romanian legend, Jari Litmanen, the greatest ever Finnish footballer, and former French international, Fréderi Déhu.

THE FIRST RITSONA FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT!

In 2016 the majority of Ritsona residents were from Syria. They created several football teams, amongst them Tishreen (the team photo in the gallery below), which won the inaugural Ritsona football tournament on 1st June 2016. After the victory, the team bore their coach aloft - Alan (a 28 year old teacher from Tishreen) - suffered from Muscular Dystrophy….but this didn’t stop him coaching the team!

One of the team members, Ahmed Farouq, said: “I was seven years old when I joined Tishreen Football Club in Latakia, a big city by the sea in Syria, back in 1987. This was a very important moment in my life because I loved and still love football. I can remember that I was wearing a red and yellow t-shirt. My father took me to the pitch and the first thing that I saw were the players training. My favourite player was Abdul Kader Kurdagli and the goal-keeper was Ahmad Eid. I played for the team from the year 1987 to 2000.”