Antonio Rüdiger has used his own family history to make a blunt case for refugees: they did not choose to leave, and they should be listened to. The Real Madrid and Germany defender joined the Gamechanging Team of the UN high commissioner for refugees and tied that role to the story of how his parents settled in Germany after fleeing civil war in Sierra Leone.
The 33-year-old grew up in Neukölln, Berlin, as the youngest of six siblings, with only him and one sister born in Germany. He said the experience of families like his is why refugee voices matter now, especially as he prepares to represent Germany at the World Cup.
Rüdiger’s comments land because they turn a public advocacy role into something personal. He did not speak in abstractions. He talked about a childhood built around shared food, shared space and football, saying people without phones would look out of the window, find others playing, and go. If someone did not have enough food or milk, he said, neighbors helped. “We would share everything,” he said. “It was one of the best experiences in my lifetime.”
That background matters because it sits inside a larger history. Civil war broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991, the conflict lasted 11 years and displaced about 2.5 million people. Rüdiger’s family was part of that movement, and he said the lesson he carries from it is simple: “It’s not easy to leave somewhere behind and start somewhere new.” That is why, he said, refugees have “no other choice” and “it’s important that they be listened to.”
There is also a sharper edge to his message. Rüdiger is not just describing where he came from; he is pushing back against the way refugees are often viewed. He said that because his family went through it, he can “understand those people and feel with them.” He also pointed to the basic common ground that helped people adapt in Neukölln: if someone could not speak the language, “the football language we all understood.”
What remains unclear is what his work with the UNHCR team will look like in practice. The announcement confirms the role, not the tasks. But the direction of travel is already clear: Rüdiger is using the visibility of Real Madrid, Germany and the World Cup to argue that refugees are not a talking point to be managed from a distance. They are people who, in his telling, deserve to be heard first.
