‘A healthy constructive environment’: Somali refugee forms soccer team for other Utah refugees
Mar 30, 2025, 3:58 PM
Members of Future FC, a Salt Lake City-based team made up largely of refugees, practice at Westpointe Park in Salt Lake City on March 21. (Collin Leonard, KSL.com)
(Collin Leonard, KSL.com)
SALT LAKE CITY — As a refugee from Somalia, adjusting to life in Utah could be rocky at times for Abdi Iftin, who moved to Salt Lake City in 2005.
“As a kid, you go through this quick transition, and your life changes,” he said. “School becomes very difficult for you because it’s hard for you to make friends. You have to learn a new language, a new lifestyle.”
Playing soccer on the school playground during recess, though, made the difficulties seem to fade away. “In the classroom, I was disconnected. But then as soon as it was recess, they’re playing soccer; other kids would come to me and nudge me onto their teams, and I would play, and I slowly just started to build friends at school that way,” he said.
Fast-forward 20 years, and now Iftin is trying to help younger refugees with their own transitions here in Utah, harnessing the force that helped him. He founded a soccer team for refugees, Future FC, and the squad will be competing in the United Premier Soccer League, a development league, giving players a constructive outlet in their daily lives and a means to connect with others.
“Most of these guys have been through a lot. We hope we can make a healthy, constructive environment for them,” said Iftin, who played for Salt Lake City’s East High School soccer team years ago but serves Future FC in a more managerial and administrative role.
The players, most but not all of them refugees who resettled here due to strife and upheaval in their home countries, come from Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, Congo, South Sudan, Venezuela and Mexico, among other countries.
Many of the players, speaking at a recent practice at Westpointe Park in Salt Lake City, dream of parlaying participation in the new team into something grander. The team has played a few friendly matches but doesn’t kick off its official season until April 26.
Chok Wal, originally from South Sudan and now living in Taylorsville, played back in Africa with his friends for fun. Now as a Future FC player, he wants to “make our community proud,” he said, and vie for “the big leagues.”
Teklezgi Berhe, originally from Eritrea but now living in Salt Lake City and working in construction, also has grand soccer ambitions. “My dream is to play for my national team,” he said.
If they can achieve soccer stardom, great. But Iftin and Abdi Gedi, youth coordinator for Future FC, have, perhaps, more practical ambitions — to give the players a sense of place and a constructive outlet. Gedi sees participation on the team as a way of “keeping them sharp, keeping them out of trouble.” Likewise, Iftin sees the team as a vehicle to steer participants away from the grittier aspects of their communities — drugs, violence, gang activity — and instill a sense of discipline.
“I think it makes sense for us to make a team where we can keep them busy. We will practice. We’ll put down rules just the same way a professional team would do,” Iftin said. Future FC will play other United Premier Soccer Leagues around Utah and Idaho once the season begins.
He will also incorporate workshops into the team regimen on things unrelated to soccer that can help participants away from the pitch — on job hunting, career development, applying to technical schools, mental health issues. Having been here 20 years, Iftin also hopes to serve as a resource to point players to programs in the community that can help them.
“We’re using soccer as a way to attract them,” said Iftin, who has worked for nonprofit organizations.
Iftin and other team organizers have spent their own money to get the team started, and they’ve also gotten help from the community. Real Salt Lake donated matching team socks to the players, they received free practice time on one field and players pitched in money to help get the team to a friendly in Cedar City. But they could use more assistance, Iftin said.
At any rate, the efforts seem to be paying off, even if organizers and players are scrambling to get ready for the first game. “Just being here helps us out, keeps us out of trouble,” said Javier Beltran, one of the players.
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