The Austria FA, ÖFB (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund), has a produced a TV advertisement celebrating and welcoming the different backgrounds of its national team players, particularly those who fled to Austria as a refugee and have now become naturalised Austrians.

The video highlights the passports of the players’ parents, and includes the dates when their parents entered the country, with the message ‘Their parents came as migrants, their sons play now for Austria” Players featured include David Alaba, Aleksandar Dragovic, Zlatko Junuzovic and Veli Kavlak.

The objective behind the making of the film was to show that performance is the only factor that determines whether a player can play or not for the “Das team”. The clip also shows key moments in which these players have scored for the Austrian national team.

“Collective sports, such as football, are exceptional examples of inclusion and integration” said ÖFB President Leo Windtner, “our biggest goal as a sports federation is to take on this issue actively and raise awareness in the broadest way possible.”

The campaign is supported by the Austrian Ministry for Inclusion who have developed their own slogan, “Only the performance counts” (‘Das Kino ist für alle da’) reinforcing the FA’s focus on tackling discrimination and promoting an inclusive environment in football and in society.

“I am pleased to see the ÖFB developing this initiative. We have previously worked together in our ‘Austria United’ campaign and we are pleased to be able to support this campaign as well” explained the State’s Secretariat for Inclusion Sebastian Kurz.