Interfaith soccer teams eased Muslim-Christian tensions — to a point
A study in Iraq shows the benefits and limitations of social cohesion interventions
By Sujata Gupta
Bringing rival groups together to reduce prejudices is not a new idea. But can positive contact help ethnic groups reconcile after extreme violence? A social scientist tested that idea in Iraq by putting Christians and Muslims on the same soccer teams. The resulting camaraderie among players did help bridge those communities — but only to a point.
Relations between Muslims and Christians disintegrated in northern Iraq after the Islamic State took over Mosul and surrounding regions in 2014. Some 100,000 Christians from Mosul alone were among those who fled their homes, returning years later to live uneasily alongside Muslim residents who they saw as complicit in the attacks. Political scientist Salma Mousa of Stanford University, an avid soccer fan who grew up in the Middle East, wondered if the popular sport could bring those communities together.
Players did make small behavioral changes on the field, but that didn’t translate to broader attitudinal shifts.
For instance, at the end of the two-month league, roughly 61 percent of Christian players on mixed teams agreed to register for mixed teams the following season, compared with 47 percent of players on all-Christian teams, Mousa reports in the Aug. 14 Science. Almost 54 percent of Christian players on mixed teams voted for a Muslim newcomer to win a sportsmanship award, given to a person not on their own team, compared with about 31 percent of players on all-Christian teams. And when researchers contacted players six months later, about 61 percent of Christian players from mixed teams were training with Muslim players at least once a week compared with 17 percent of players from the all-Christian teams.