It may not be the World Cup but it's far more important than that.

For World Refugee Day on June 20, a football team in Madrid came together, representing roughly 120 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution, economic troubles or violence.

There were no trophies at stake, no transfer fees, no national anthems, just a group of footballers who have crossed continents – some at the risk of their lives – to kick a ball around on a Saturday afternoon.

The team for the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) made up of players from Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Ukraine, Venezuela and beyond, lined up against a squad of ex-pros from Spain's top flight, La Liga — including Jose Maria Movilla who spent three seasons at Rayo Vallecano, and goalkeeper Raul Valbuena who was on the books at Real Madrid.

The Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE)  organized this friendly fixture to highlight what the political class in Europe currently seems unable to.

"This is about recognition for immigrants or refugees, to be able to give them that visibility, to celebrate that day," Destiny Omofuman, the captain of the refugee team told CGTN. 

"Because it's not easy, you know, to leave everything behind and come to a new country and start a new life."

'My country is at war'

For some of the players on that pitch, just being here is a victory. Fily Dembele, left his home country Mali because of violence.

"My country is at war. That's why I left," he says. "I came in a boat with my father, we could have died on the journey, it was just a normal small boat with a motor at the back."

Omofuman also had to endure a dangerous journey.

"Crossing the borders from Niger to Algeria was difficult because the border controls had guns, and they could open fire at people crossing illegally at any time," says the captain.

These are the journeys that rarely make the evening news, but they are the ones that CEAR sees every day at its offices across the country.

The team gives the players a feeling of belonging and a sense of purpose.

Numbers behind the debate 

Football is a universal language, and on this pitch it briefly drowned out a debate that has grown louder and uglier across Europe. 

Far-right and anti-immigration parties are gaining ground from France to Germany and from Italy to the Netherlands.

The sentiment is seeping into Spain too. A recent poll showed that around 60% of Spaniards believe there are too many foreigners in the country. 

The foreign-born population has grown to roughly 10 million people, about 20% of everyone living in Spain.

And Spain's far-right party VOX has steadily grown to become the country's third political force behind the big two traditional center-right and center-left parties (PP and PSOE) – their anti-immigration policies helped them get there.

Meanwhile, data shows that immigration is overwhelmingly positive, particularly for the economy. 

According to the OECD, migrants accounted for some 70% of workforce growth in Europe over the past decade. 

And if you look at the US, between 1994 and 2023, immigrants and their children in that country generated an estimated cummulative fiscal surplus of $14.5 trillion, because they consistently paid more in taxes than they consumed in public benefits.

With birth rates across the European continent at record lows, economists routinely warn that Europe's future prosperity depends on the very people its politics is increasingly pushing away.

'The most hurtful lie'

For Monica Lopez, CEAR's director, the disconnect between reality and public mood comes down to misinformation.

"For me, it's misinformation," she said. "The most hurtful lie is that waves of criminals are coming in, that's just not true. The people who come just want to work and make a living, the same as all the rest of us do.

"They are the people who look after your children, parents, and grandparents, people who help you with the housework at home or pick you fruit in season. They are doctors, nurses, health workers, the people who serve you a glass of wine on Sunday — and, of course, footballers," she added.

Back on the pitch, the final score barely mattered. What was far more important was that a Malian forward, a Venezuelan midfielder, a Ukrainian winger and a handful of retired Spanish pros were all running the same system, calling for the same ball, under the same Madrid sunshine.

Whether football can really change minds in a continent tilting toward harder edges remains an open question. But on World Refugee Day, in a city that has welcomed people from almost everywhere, it offered a glimpse of something different.

Football, after all, is a universal language, a game you feel. And on Saturday afternoon in Madrid, it also felt a little like hope.