Refugee Week and the FIFA World Cup.

Refugee Week and the World Cup, all at once. And honestly? You couldn't write a better story.

Take a proper look at the Socceroos squad lining up in America right now.

The 26 players come from at least 15 different cultural and ethnic backgrounds...a reflection of a modern Australia where nearly one in three people were born overseas. Italian, Burundian, Liberian, Turkish-Cypriot, Dutch, Zimbabwean, Scottish, South Sudanese, Serbian and Sri Lankan.

At least three of those players were born in refugee camps.

Awer Mabil was born in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, to South Sudanese parents. Nestory Irankunda was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp to Burundian parents. Mo Touré was born in a refugee camp in Guinea, where his parents had spent 14 years after fleeing war in Liberia.

Fourteen years in a camp. And now their son is at the World Cup, wearing the green and gold.

Mabil's first ever taste of football was kicking a ball around with the other kids in that Kenyan camp, where he lived until he was ten. A kid with nothing, playing the only game that needs nothing. No boots, no pitch, no money. Just a ball and somewhere to run.

That's why they call it the world game.

From the camps of East Africa to the barrios of South America, the favelas of Brazil, the dusty backstreets of every poor corner of the planet — football has always been the one door that stays open. The one path that doesn't ask where you came from or how much your family earns. You just need to be able to play.

And these blokes can play.

Six players of African heritage are in this squad — nearly a quarter of the team, double the number from the last World Cup. Four of them came up through Adelaide, of all places, now quietly producing some of the most exciting young talent in the country.

And what about that goal from Nestory Irankunda!

Refugee Week couldn't have asked for a better picture of what's possible.