More than a game: Football, friendship and mental health recovery

play Live Sign upShow navigation menu.css-15ru6p1{font-size:inherit;font-weight:normal;}Navigation menuNewsShow more news sectionsAfricaAsiaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificWorld CupMiddle EastExplainedOpinionVideoMoreShow more sectionsFeaturesEconomySportHuman RightsClimate CrisisInvestigationsInteractivesIn PicturesScience & TechnologyPodcastsTravelSponsored Contentplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNavigation menucaret-leftWorld Cup 2026Results and FixturesGroup standingsGoals and reactioncaret-rightFinding recovery through football and friendshipMen recovering from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mental health challenges find support, friendship and purpose through football. xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoWhen Tarik Kaidi was sectioned in 2013, he couldn't understand why; he had felt like he was on top of the world. For months, his mind had been racing with new ideas. He was constantly on the move, meeting friends, networking and making plans. He felt energetic, confident, sociable and unstoppable. His music business was thriving, he was the father of a young daughter, and he was preparing to get married. To Kaidi, life had never looked brighter. But while he felt invincible, his family saw something else. What he saw as creative energy, they recognised as increasingly erratic behaviour and reached out to the mental health services. When police officers stopped him shortly after he had received an immunisation shot ahead of his honeymoon to Mexico, the intervention came as a shock. Kaidi had been detained under the UK's Mental Health Act, allowing doctors to keep him in hospital against his will for assessment and treatment. More than a decade later, standing on a spiral staircase in London's Earl's Court district, Kaidi cuts a distinctive figure in dark sunglasses, a matching blue tracksuit and a flat-brim baseball cap. He takes a long drag on a cigarette and shakes his head as he recalls being taken to St Charles Mental Health Centre in west London, an imposing 19th-century honey-coloured brick building whose main entrance archway is crowned by the remains of a former hospital chapel. In the months leading up to his detention, he says he had been experiencing a manic episode, a period of elevated mood and high energy associated with bipolar disorder, a condition he would later be diagnosed with. "I was in denial at the time," he said, describing the impulsivity and hyperactivity he experienced as resembling symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - "but times a thousand". Although he now accepts the diagnosis, he remains critical of the way he was detained and of some of his experiences in hospital. Tilting his head back and pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth, Kaidi demonstrated how he would pretend to swallow the medication prescribed to him during his 28-day stay at the centre and a subsequent two-week night-time admission. He recalls being surrounded by patients who moved through the centre’s corridors in what appeared to him to be a medicated haze, their slumped postures and blank expressions reinforcing his fear of treatment. In the weeks that followed, however, the euphoria that had sustained him for months gave way to a deep and painful depression; a common phase of bipolar disorder that can follow a manic episode. His wedding, which had been due to take place a week after the intervention, was called off, and his relationship with his partner ended. After being discharged, Kaidi said he felt all his energy leave his body; “It felt like hell; all interests gone, all hobbies gone, I felt like a waste of space”, he said. With little desire to engage with the world, he withdrew almost completely, sometimes leaving the house only to take his daughter out before retreating back indoors. That was until his friend, seeing him in distress, asked him to join a mental health football team and, for the first time in ten years, Kaidi laced up a pair of football boots. As he trudged across the synthetic astroturf pitches, he began to sweat out the frustration and grief that had been building up over the years. Finding his touch again as a striker, every goal lifted his confidence a little higher, and every moment of banter with his teammates pulled him back from the isolation he had retreated into. As his fitness returned, so too did his energy, which had drained away in the aftermath of his diagnosis. Training sessions gave him a reason to get out of the house, and matches gave him something to look forward to. What Kaidi experienced anecdotally is increasingly supported by scientific research. Scientists and medical experts have long linked exercise with improved mental health. A recent UCLA study found that among people who exercised regularly, the number of poor mental health days was significantly lower. A 2023 review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine - drawing on more than 1,000 trials and 128,000 participants - went further still, concluding that physical activity is one and a half times more effective than counselling or leading medications at reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Researchers believe part of the explanation lies in the brain itself: aerobic exercise has been shown to stimulate the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, the region responsible for memory and mood regulation. Perhaps just as importantly, football also gave Kaidi a community. Among teammates who understood what he had been through, Kaidi found acceptance where he had expected judgement. He admits he had his own stereotypes about mental illness, and had fought the diagnosis for months, uneasy about how the world might see him. But at the football club, the label fell away. Everyone was, as he puts it, "on the same page", and from that common ground, something like genuine friendship grew. Before long, it had taken him all the way to a tournament in Italy, one of a growing number of international competitions that use football as a tool for mental health recovery and social inclusion. The Dream World Cup, which began in 2016, brings together players from across the world - Argentina, Japan, Senegal, Spain and beyond - with participants drawn from psychiatric services and recovery programmes, competing in the belief that the pitch can do things the clinic cannot. The driving force behind these tournaments is the International Football Committee on Mental Health, chaired by Italian psychiatrist Santo Rullo. It was founded in 2013 after psychiatrists and social health workers from eight countries gathered in Tokyo and signed a declaration committing to sport as a vehicle for inclusion and recovery among people living with mental illness. The cup has been held in Osaka and Rome, and organisers are now preparing for the next Dream World Cup in Peru, with the date yet to be confirmed. In September 2024, the concept expanded further with the first Dream Euro Cup, bringing together teams from across Europe. In the years that followed, football became more than a route back to health for Kaidi; it became a vocation. After gaining his coaching qualifications through the Fulham FC Foundation in 2016, he began thinking about how to offer others the same sense of purpose and belonging he had found on the pitch. In 2019, he founded Minds United. What started with seven players and a bag of footballs has since grown into a community organisation with more than 400 members, offering football sessions, social activities and support networks for people experiencing mental illness, disability and social exclusion. The club now fields multiple teams for players aged 18-70, attracts referrals from mental health services, homelessness charities and community organisations across west London, and is supported by organisations including the NHS and Kensington and Chelsea Council. A women's section was established in 2021, and in partnership with Middlesex Football Association a women's division was added to the North West London Mental Health League the following year. According to the club, 95 per cent of players reported an improvement in their mental wellbeing. Across Britain, organisations including Coping Through Football in east London, Kick Start FC in Wiltshire and Sport in Mind run football programmes for people living with mental illness, addiction and social isolation. The movement is increasingly international, too. After meeting members of the Italian national mental health team at the "La Testa Nel Pallone" futsal tournament in Lecce in June 2024, Kaidi set about creating the UK's first national mental health football team. He assembled the squad in just three months. Organisers from the European Culture and Sport Organization suggested branding it "Team GB", but Kaidi resisted, saying he wanted to leave room for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to eventually field their own national sides. England went on to reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 Dream World Cup. At the club's west London community centre, volunteers, coaches, people experiencing homelessness and those living with mental health conditions from a wide range of backgrounds gather in a spacious room filled with pool tables and an art corner overlooking a dreary, traffic-choked road and a sprawling supermarket, with rows of affluent homes rising behind it; a small but vibrant snapshot of modern London in all its complexity. The same sense of belonging extends onto the pitch. The club also organises ‘mixed-ability’ football sessions where anyone can drop in and play. Under a grey monolithic motorway underpass at London’s Westway Centre, Osama Jaw, a 28-year-old, jumps up and down as he prepares to play. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a condition that can cause significant impairments in the way reality is perceived, including delusions and hallucinations. He says he has a form of it that makes him prone to disorganised speech. Rolling up his T-shirt to reveal a bulging bicep, he says six years of daily gym work have changed his life, leaving his mind clearer and his body less dependent on medication. "Exercise helps me organise my mind, both mentally and verbally; I feel less panicked," he says. It has also helped as a distraction and to leave "bad company", which he said could have led him into trouble that only exacerbated his symptoms. "Now, I am focused on training, on the gym and football; if I see trouble, or a fight, I run away as soon as I can," he said. After a lung-busting seven-a-side game, he appears even calmer, explaining that the football sessions leave him with a sense that all “the bad air, all the bad feelings, are let out” of his body. The pace of the rolling matches is fast, and the games are competitive; within a few minutes, two penalties are awarded. Although football often reinforces traditional ideas of masculinity, and English grassroots football is often characterised by crunching tackles and expletive-laden comments to the referee, the atmosphere is both inclusive and caring.  If a player appears anxious or shows signs of distress, teammates instinctively give them space, even if they are in possession of the ball. At one point, a player began to hyperventilate. The game stopped almost immediately. Teammates gathered around him and gently guided him out of the fenced pitch. As he made his way to the sidelines, players waiting to come on put their arms around him and led him to a nearby seating area. Gradually, his breathing slowed. A few minutes later one of the players looked back to the referee and raised a thumb, signalling that he was alright and play could resume. Yet the concern did not end there. For the next hour and a half, until training finished, teammates regularly broke away from conversations and warm-down exercises to check how he was doing. The scene was a striking rebuttal to the stereotype that football, and men more broadly, remain uncomfortable discussing mental health. Here, concern was expressed openly and support was immediate. Even at the highest levels of the game, however, those assumptions have proved difficult to shake. Former Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard has spoken publicly about struggling with depression and anxiety during his playing career, saying he had been "bottling up so much" that he turned to alcohol at night to cope while wearing what he described as "a smile as a mask". US international Christian Pulisic has similarly reflected on his own mental health struggles, saying, "I thought that I was too tough to need help. It took me a while to realise that to speak up feels strong." For those who never reach that realisation, the consequences can be devastating. Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke died by suicide in 2009 after concealing his depression from almost everyone around him. His death became a watershed moment in football's conversation about mental health and the dangers of suffering in silence. But attitudes are beginning to shift, from grassroots organisations such as Minds United to the professional game, where all 20 Premier League clubs now employ dedicated player care staff to support mental and emotional wellbeing. Amongst those who have found support is Daniel Workeye, a friendly, softly spoken thirty-two-year-old. He has been sectioned seven times and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which he said meant he would “hear voices”. His doctor encouraged him to go out and play football, and since then he has dropped from 160kg (353 pounds) to 117kg (258 pounds), a healthy weight for his hulking frame, and has fallen in love with the game. “I have made friends, I have lost weight, I get my hit of dopamine, to be honest if it wasn’t for playing football with everyone I don’t know where I would be”, he said firmly. It offers an escape from the routine and clinical atmosphere of the mental health clinic, and he said his doctor now approves his leave whenever he needs to exercise. Keith Neville, short in stature but energetic in manner, and Marc Gomez, a hirsute, burly man with a measured and sincere demeanour, became friends after attending the sessions. Leaning against the wire mesh surrounding an astroturf pitch, they said football helps them manage stress and improve their mood. Gomez is quick to correct himself: “Well, it fires me up and calms me down at the same time.” Their experiences are backed by a substantial body of research. Regular physical activity has consistently been shown to reduce stress, tension and mental fatigue while boosting energy, focus and motivation. Those benefits are amplified further by the social connections and shared sense of purpose that activities such as football provide, Alexa Knight, director of policy and influencing at the Mental Health Foundation, told Al Jazeera. "Our bodies and our minds are connected, so looking after ourselves physically also helps us prevent problems with our mental health; exercise releases 'feel good' hormones (including serotonin and dopamine) that help improve our mood and reduce feelings of stress and anger," she said. "It also helps us feel better about our bodies and helps us sleep better too; all of these things are beneficial for our mental health and wellbeing." Jack McClaren, a vocational specialist with the National Health Service who previously worked at Broadmoor Hospital, had brought several of his patients to join the session. "A few patients wanted to come down as part of their therapeutic leave," he said, wiping sweat from his forehead. Exercise and a sense of community, he added, are almost always beneficial. "It helps take their mind off things and offers social connections," he said. With stigma around mental health still prevalent, particularly among men, he said the sessions provide an opportunity to meet others in an environment free from judgement.  Not everyone who attends is experiencing an acute mental health crisis. In fact, Knight said good mental health is not something to focus on only during periods of difficulty. It requires ongoing attention, and physical activity is one of the most effective tools available. "Moving more boosts mood, reduces stress and builds resilience, so that when difficult moments arrive, we are better equipped to face them," she said. "Yet up to 45 percent of adults and 30 percent of children are not meeting [UK] government recommendations for physical activity." "The benefits multiply when exercise is social and accessible — doing something enjoyable alongside others makes it easier to sustain, and the long-term gains for wellbeing are far greater than going it alone," Knight said. As everyone left the pitch, the fervour of the World Cup was starting to hit home; the first game, Mexico vs South Africa, would start in a few hours. “I really hope England bring it home this time,” Jaw said before darting off with his rucksack slung over one shoulder. Football hasn't cured Kaidi's bipolar disorder. He still experiences the lows and the manic highs that come with it. But Minds United has given his week a structure and a purpose that medication alone never could, and on the days when getting out of bed feels impossible, knowing that others are counting on him is sometimes the only thing that gets him there. Show moreAbout UsCode of EthicsTerms and ConditionsEU/EEA Regulatory NoticePrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyCookie PreferencesAccessibility StatementSitemapWork for usConnectConnectShow moreContact UsUser Accounts HelpAdvertise with usStay ConnectedNewslettersChannel FinderTV SchedulePodcastsSubmit a TipPaid Partner ContentOur ChannelsOur ChannelsShow moreAl Jazeera ArabicAl Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera Investigative UnitAl Jazeera MubasherAl Jazeera DocumentaryAl Jazeera BalkansAJ+Our NetworkOur NetworkShow moreAl Jazeera Centre for StudiesAl Jazeera Media InstituteLearn ArabicAl Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human RightsAl Jazeera ForumAl Jazeera Hotel PartnersFollow Al Jazeera English: