MOSTAFA ASADI TELLS HIS STORY
Sports in Iran
I spent my childhood in Iran, where my family had fled from the war in Afghanistan. In Iran, most people were nice, but society made life difficult for us Afghan refugees in the early 2000s. The law seemed to be against immigrants, especially those in weaker economic positions. Fortunately, we were economically in an average position in Iran. Due to Iranian bureaucracy, studying was not very meaningful, but we still had to work hard in school. I often had to change schools, which didn’t feel fair, but my grade point average was still very good.
At that time, we Afghans didn’t have official recreational opportunities – some Afghan organizations were allowed to organize activities for us, but there were far too few places in them. Sports, especially football, was close to my heart. Football was the thing that united us during those difficult times. I woke up every Friday morning at 6:30, gathered my friends, and went with them to a nearby park to play on the asphalt field. Other kids would come, and we always had great tournaments, playing for hours. We wore regular shoes, and the goals were marked with two stones. We played with a plastic ball that we had made heavier by putting several plastic balls inside each other. Those were the days!
I was athletically gifted and a really good trickster in street football. We had inter-class football tournaments at school. We had a new teacher, and he chose me as the captain of our class. That day, I felt important for the first time. I was in shock and surprised because, as an Afghan, I was used to very different treatment. I got to assemble our class team which participated in the school tournament. I will remember that for the rest of my life. We even won bronze in that tournament.
Youth in Tampere and Helsinki
One evening, my father asked us to come to the living room and said that we would be leaving Iran soon. I didn’t immediately understand what that meant in practice. On one hand, I was very happy that we would be leaving a country where life was made so difficult for us; on the other hand, I was very sad because all my close friends and relatives would stay in Iran. One day after school, my father came to tell me that we would be going to Finland through the UN refugee agency. We took only a few things with us – I had only a small backpack.
We moved to Pirkkala, Kartanonkuja, on June 26, 2006. There, a woman was waiting for us. She welcomed us warmly and showed us the apartment. I was very tired from the journey, but as soon as I entered the apartment, I saw a sand field and two goals from the kitchen window. I almost ran to the field to play, but we didn’t have a ball. This woman found out about it, and the next day we went to Citymarket with her. We bought a ball with a Finnish flag on it. It meant a lot to me; I was so excited. Playing with a real football felt strange since I had never played with a proper ball before. A few days later, I made my first friends on that sand field. They were also from Afghanistan but had been in Finland for many years. I played football with them all day long.
That summer, the 2006 FIFA World Cup was played, and I had made a playful bet with my uncle about the winner: I was on Italy’s side, and my uncle was on France’s. They played in the final. I wanted to see the final, but we didn’t have a TV yet. I got a radio from a neighbor and followed the final that way – right after the game, I called my uncle with my father’s phone to tell him that I had won the bet.
I started school in a preparatory class. My Afghan friends were in the same school, which was very important to me. They found for us a football team, and we joined Tampereen Pallo-Veikot (TPV). We had a very nice coach there, who often gave us a ride home from training. He genuinely cared about us, was present, and above all treated us as people. At first, I didn’t understand anything that was said in training, so the coach tried to communicate with me in English as well. Over time, the team’s activities became more competitive, the coach changed, and my friends dropped out of the team. I changed teams, and in my new team, the coach was completely different from what I was used to at TPV. He was very strict. For example, if I was late, I had to wait a long time before I could join the training. I didn’t understand why this was done. I felt like a leftover. I took a break from football but continued to exercise with friends – in addition to football, I played basketball and did parkour. I was 15 years old at the time and had already lived in Pirkkala for a year. I had learned Finnish well and was in middle school. The school world was new to me, but studying was easy because I had already gone through middle school subjects in Iran.
After the summer vacation, we moved to Helsinki – another new beginning, and old friends were left behind. We moved to Kontula, a suburb in Helsinki. I made many new friends, but most of them were the kind my parents didn’t want me to spend time with. I studied at the Vesala Comprehensive School. I completed the entire middle school in one year because I had already gone through many subjects in Iran – of course, the language was still difficult. I was athletic, but I didn’t like physical education in school: the teacher wasn’t present, didn’t teach, and didn’t listen. For example, I missed out on skiing and skating completely even though I wanted to learn them. Grades were not distributed fairly. It felt unfair – and similar feelings of unfairness came from S2 teaching as well. Fortunately, football was fun once more. I played for a long time at FC Kontu and then in many other clubs. I usually didn’t stay in one club for long. This was often influenced by the coaches and the atmosphere in the teams, which was very important to me.
Studies and Career
After middle school, I continued to the Itäkeskus High School, from which I graduated in three years. After high school, I was interested in many different fields – for example, I applied to study architecture but was placed on the waiting list. I studied information technology for a year at Lahti University of Applied Sciences, but neither the field nor Lahti felt right for me. I was about to continue my studies in Helsinki at Metropolia, but before the school year started, I saw an advertisement for international degrees at the Pajulahti Sports Institute. After an interview and entrance exams, I was accepted into the degree program. I had to think about the decision for a long time because the education was paid.
After the first year, I received a scholarship and went to the USA to study for the next two years. I was still very athletic at the time and had played football in the men’s second and third divisions in Finland. In the USA, I played in the third division of college leagues. I worked hard in the USA, completed my studies quickly, and left with physical education teacher and professional coach qualifications. I was the only football player at the university to receive three awards for academic achievements.
After returning to Finland, I started to work as a physical education teacher and football coach at Malmin Palloseura (MPS) and as a floorball coach at Hawks. I learned a lot in all three jobs. As a teacher, I saw a lot of racism – it wasn’t directed at me, but at the students. I took the issue forward at school, but nothing was done about it. I didn’t stay long in the job. I didn’t want to see the same injustice and inequality that I had experienced all the time. However, as a teacher, I learned how to motivate and support students and how to get them interested in physical activity. These lessons were useful. I was a coach for two years, and at the same time, I worked as a youth worker for the City of Helsinki. In youth work, I learned especially about the challenges young people face in this society. All children and young people that I encountered in both sports and youth work shared two major wishes: the presence of a safe adult and being heard and understood. As simple as that!
I also ended up doing a master’s degree in coaching at the University of Jyväskylä and completed the required teaching qualifications in Finland. At the same time, I played futsal for two years at Liikunnan Riemu – I have good memories and many friends from that time. During my studies, I also worked as a physical trainer for the floorball club Happee and did my internship with HJK Helsinki’s men’s football team.
We Foundation
While writing my thesis, I heard through a colleague that the We Foundation was looking for a sports expert. My colleague said I would be perfect for the job. I applied for the position but didn’t expect to get it. However, I was invited for an interview. After that, I was very excited. One sentence on the foundation’s website caught my eye, and I was completely immersed in it: “There is no ‘us’ and ‘them.’ There is only us.” This was a magical sentence for me. Eventually, I heard that I had gotten the job. Since then, I have been very grateful, honored, and satisfied. I appreciate the work, values, and things I have been involved in at the foundation. At the We Foundation, we want to ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to participate and belong. We do this in two ways. Our physical community house, Meltsi, is located in Mellunmäki, Eastern Helsinki, where we work directly with children, young people, and families. Additionally, we collect data on the impact of leisure activities from sports clubs, municipalities, community houses, and the Scout Movement. At the We Foundation, we don’t just talk – we do.
The Covid pandemic period was challenging for me, with difficulties at work and in my personal life, as I lost my beloved grandmother during that time. When the Covid situation eased, we at Meltsi thought about what we could do next. I visited a nearby school to ask what the children in the area would like to do. The most common answer by far was football. We voted on a name for the team on the spot. The name that was chosen was FC Meltsi. In the following week, our art pedagogue and I organized a workshop where the children could design the team’s logo. The art pedagogue completed the logo based on the children’s suggestions. At FC Meltsi, all activities are based on the wishes of children and young people: we listen to them, plan things together, and implement their wishes as much as possible. We believe in the participatory method and use it in all our activities.
After the second year of FC Meltsi’s activities, we were awarded €43,500 by the UEFA Foundation for Children for our football activities which aim to prevent marginalization and strengthen the participation of children and families. At FC Meltsi, we don’t just play football but also strengthen community, social skills, and a sense of belonging. Working at Meltsi has helped me grow into the person I am today. I want to be useful to this society, and through my work, I want to ensure that children and young people are heard and seen as important parts of this society. With these things, we can ensure a good and secure future for our society.
Mostafa Asadi