Empowerment through football

Hanover-born Tuğba Tekkal, daughter of Kurdish-Yazidi immigrants, defied all the odds to become a professional footballer in the Bundesliga. Now a coach, she founded the Scoring Girls project to offer girls and young women the opportunity to boost their self-esteem. The sport and its team-oriented nature can have therapeutic benefits for the budding sportswomen - many of whom have experienced racism in their everyday lives or faced the trauma of being a refugee. Maisa and Maisun had to flee Iraq with their parents to escape the horrors of Islamic State rule. In Germany, the Scoring Girls project gave the two sisters a long-forgotten feeling of freedom. Fears of discrimination and losing their culture prompt some parents to ban football for their daughters - but a growing number of youngsters have an active interest in playing the game. Tuğba Tekkal also wants her Scoring Girls concept to help girls in Iraq, and has set up a number of local projects in the autonomous Kurdistan region. From refugee camps to big-city surroundings, she's determined to ensure that more young women get the chance to finally play football.