On Thursday night, Awer Mabil will head to the Bernabeu as part of the Cadiz squad to face reigning Spanish and European champions Real Madrid.
After that, the 27-year-old will fly to Qatar to take part in the World Cup with Australia.
For any player, it would be an extremely exciting time. But for Mabil, who spent the first 10 years of his life in a refugee camp, it marks the crowning point of a remarkable personal journey.
Mabil’s parents are South Sudanese, and in 1994 they fled the war-torn former British colony to relocate to Kakuma, a refugee camp in Kenya operated by the United Nations. Awer was born a year later, and spent much of his childhood playing football in the only manner possible – barefoot on dirt pitches with a ‘ball‘ made out of scrunched up plastic bags.
The family was able to relocate again to Adelaide, Australia, when Awer was 10 years old, and he quickly found that continuing to follow his childhood passion for football – now playing with proper equipment – was a great way to overcome the communication difficulties he initially encountered while learning English.
His first few months in La Liga have not been easy. Mabil earned a decent amount of playing time in the opening weeks of the season, but Cadiz lost their first five games and he fell behind fellow new signings Brian Ocampo and Theo Bongonda in the pecking order. And now, with results picking up, he has appeared just once from the bench since September.
So there’s every chance that Mabil won’t see any playing time at the Bernabeu on Thursday – but the flip side is that he will be fresh and fit to represent his adopted country with pride in Qatar against France, adding another memorable chapter to his heart-warming story. Click here and see the best odds for this match.