From a soccer star war refugee, Antonio Rudger's thrilling history of the World

Real Madrid footballer spoke of BBC Sports Africa Following his appearance at Germany's World Cup opening match, where the Germans triumphed with a depth of 7-1 over Curacaos, the Klankosova.tv broadcast.

Rugiger reported that his family was forced to leave the Kono district, east of Sierra Leone, during the decade - long civil war and claimed thousands of lives.

The only solution was to leave. My brother told me many stories about what they experienced on the way to the capital Freetown in search of security”, Rudger said.

According to him, the trip of about 340 miles [340 km] was extremely dangerous, while his uncle took extreme measures to save family children from the rebels who recruited child-soldiers by force.

He hid them in a sack of rice and then returned to get it. In some cases they had to pretend to be dead so that they could not be shot or kidnapped”, the German defender confessed.

Rugiger, the youngest of six children in the family, was born in Berlin after Germany accepted his family as refugees. He recalls that his childhood was spent in a refugee center.

This really affected me, because I realized that nothing is given to you for free in life. You have to work and sacrifice a lot to achieve your goals”, he said.

German football player is not the only football star with such a story. Canada's captain, Alphonso Davies, spent his early years in a refugee camp in Ghana after his family had left Liberia because of the civil war.

Davies has declared that Canada gave him the opportunity to build the life he dreamed of.

“gave me the opportunity to be who I am today and become what I want to be in my life”

In a campaign supported by the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), other popular football names have shared their stories as refugee children or displaced by wars.

Among them are Eduardo Camavinga, Victor Moses, Asmir Begovic and Ali Al-Hamad, who today represent success stories after the great challenges their families have experienced.

However, Rudger has voiced concern that global perception of refugees has become more negative in recent years.

The refugees are often blamed. Of course, there are good men and bad men, but you cannot judge all because of one's actions. There are many people who come to change their lives, learn their language, go to school and achieve success”, he said.

According to United Nations data, there are currently some 48.8 million children displaced in the world because of wars, violence, and persecution.

Rudiger and Davies hope that through their stories they will remember that after many football stars, painful stories of survival, sacrifice and new opportunities offered by countries that received them as refugees are hidden./ Periscope.