The Premier League Charitable Fund has launched the Premier League Kicks Alumni survey, which aims to understand the impact that the Premier League's longest-running community programme has on participants.
As part of this campaign, we are telling the story of the programme through the voices of those who have taken part.
To complete the Alumni survey, click here.
Abdu Abubakar was just 17-years-old when he arrived in UK as a refugee from Eritrea.
Without any friends or family to support him, he was alone.
That was until Abdu discovered a local Premier League Kicks session run by Hull City's Tigers Trust in 2016.
"It is the best decision I've ever made," he says. "Since that turning point to say yes to Premier League Kicks, I've never looked back. I can't think about how my life would be without attending that first session."
Abdu admits he didn't want to engage with others when he first came to England and that the prospect of joining Premier League Kicks made him anxious.
"I didn't want to go because everything was new to me in the country," he says. "It was a new language, new weather and a new culture.
"I was a bit afraid of the reality of not being with anyone that had I previously known. I wasn't in a great place."
Shaking off those fears, Abdu attended his first Premier League Kicks evening, which was a special international session with participants from across the world who were from similar backgrounds.
"When I saw people who were in the same place as me, with staff who were really friendly and welcoming, it made me feel like I want to go there every day," he says. "The participants were really happy and enjoying it.
"The Tigers Trust created a welcoming, warm environment. I can remember that feeling of being really safe and feeling like I could be myself.
"The people that deliver the programme are passionate, they want to make a change in their community and as a participant, when you see staff members talking with you and not down to you, having fun with you, making sure that you're safe and giving you the tools to be a better person, you just don't want to be anywhere else."
Abdu's journey with Premier League Kicks had begun.
With his boundless enthusiasm and eagerness to help those who had given so much to him, Abdu took every opportunity available.
He quickly moved from volunteer to casual coach before landing a full-time role with the Tigers Trust in 2020.
"Where I come from, when you get help from somebody, you try your best to support them back when they need help," he says. "The community in Hull supported me and I was really desperate to get the tools to go out to do the same for them.
"When I got the job at the Trust, I couldn't believe that I was to be a staff member, with an amazing team that do amazing work. It was a very proud moment."
Abdu has taken various roles for the Tigers Trust, from assisting those who are lonely or isolated to being a role model and mentor as he supports other refugees arriving in the local area.
He also works hard to boost activity levels in Hull, particularly among young adults and ethnic minority groups.
"If you are walking the same path as somebody that you're trying to support, it makes it a lot easier," he says. "We deal with participants who have been in difficult places and had difficult journeys. They need someone to understand where they have come from so that they can engage with them in a positive manner.
"Being a role model is an honour and a responsibility. Hopefully one day I'll be able to pass the torch to someone else so that they can help others. It's a chain and I don't want it to stop. I don't think of it as a job, it's a passion."
Thousands of young people have benefitted from being a part of Premier League Kicks since it began as a pilot project in 2006. There are now 90 clubs that run the programme across England and Wales.
And Abdu says he is forever grateful to be a part of that number as he believes that without it, his life would be very different.
"Sometimes I sit at home thinking, 'am I really doing this, am I really in England supporting people?'" he says. "After what I've gone through, being able to have the tools to support others, it's out of this world.
"If I hadn't gone to that Premier League Kicks session, if I didn't have it in my life, my mind goes really blank or dark because I can't see myself without Premier League Kicks. I would have struggled a lot.
"Premier League Kicks is my life now. The people that I know today, the people I call family, they're all people that I've met through Premier League Kicks. I can't thank the programme enough."
Funded by the Premier League through the Premier League Charitable Fund, Premier League Kicks uses the power of football and sport to inspire young people to reach their potential, in some of the most high-need areas in England and Wales.
