The U.S-based Human Rights Soccer Alliance has launched a guidance document for grassroots soccer clubs, coaches, and youth-training organizers to protect young players from immigration-related harassment and enforcement encounters.

The guidance is the first comprehensive resource of its kind anywhere in the United States. No national governing body or sport federation, has produced detailed, practical, and legally grounded guidance to safeguard players from risks in this immigration and political climate.

HRSA’s guidance responds directly to what many youth coaches, parents, and league organizers have been witnessing: anxiety among immigrant families about allowing their children to attend practice, travel to games, or participate in open public fields where the presence of immigration enforcement is unpredictable.

Across the United States, many families now fear that a simple training session could expose them to questioning, intimidation, or even enforcement action.

The guidance lays out what every coach, club, and league should know:

*️⃣ the legal rights of young players regardless of immigration status

*️⃣ the responsibilities of adult supervisors

*️⃣ how to navigate team travel and vehicle stops

*️⃣ what steps to take if a young athlete is detained

Evan Whitfield, the Chair of the HRSA said: “We believe the right to play should be sacrosanct, it should never be seen as a political provocation of any kind. This guidance is a practical and ethical necessity in safeguarding the wellbeing of those of our young people involved in soccer. We hope it can be of use for clubs and associations in the front line nationwide.

“The reaction of the governing body of soccer in the US - the United States Soccer Federation - has been disappointing. We have written to the leadership on two occasions asking for co-operation on measures to protect young people, a basic safeguarding ask, but they appear to be uninterested.”

Download the guidance here.