‘People seek refuge because they have no other choice’
RALF IBING/FIRO SPORTPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES ‘It’s not bad for Germany to be underdogs at the World Cup’ Drawing on his own family’s experience in Sierra Leone, the Germany defender is challenging stereotypes ‘What do you want us to do at Madrid? Cry over the last seasons? No. Find the right conclusion‘ 4 Jun 2026 - The Guardian Sam Cunningham As a child, Antonio Rüdiger would look out of his bedroom window to see whether anyone was playing on the field it overlooked. It was not a big pitch, but it had two goals, enough room for six-a-side and was where a young Rüdiger honed the skills that would take him to the top. He grew up in Neukölln, Berlin, in a community largely made up of refugees, where his parents settled after fleeing civil war in Sierra Leone. It was, by his own account, a tough area, and football kept him out of trouble. Rüdiger, preparing to represent Germany at the World Cup, says: “We didn’t have phones to call each other. No. We just looked out of the window, w...