Panionios G.S.S. Football Club last week announced that Alia Camara, a refugee from Guinea signed a contract to play with the team.
A special announcement was made as his acquisition was not a common case.
Twenty-two-year-old Alia Camara came to Greece from Turkey on a boat when he was 17-years-old. He always had a dream of playing football.
The refugee traveled to Turkey from his home country, Guinea (a country in West Africa), after he was promised a contract with a football team there. However, it was a scam and the teenager was left penniless.
Upon his arrival in Greece, he was sent to Moria, which burnt down in September.
At the camp, Camara explained to everyone what had happened to him. Upon hearing his story, a Greek couple, whom he calls his parents, helped him submit his papers so that he can legally reside in Greece and also put him in contact with Panionios F.C., who offered the talented young player a contract.
Camara is excited to have achieved his dream of playing football, in a country he now calls 'home'.
Panionios G.S.S. Football Club, (ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), more commonly known as Panionios F.C., is a Greek amateur football club based in Nea Smyrni in the Greek capital of Athens.
The club was founded in Smyrni (Σμύρνη, Turkish: İzmir) in 1890 and relocated to Athens after the Greek-Turkish population exchange in 1923.
This makes Panionios not only the oldest football club in Greece, but also a refugee football club.
