ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Spanish football giants FC Barcelona on Monday announced the launch of their “Hope League” initiative, a project that will see the opening of six community football schools in the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria (also known as Rojava).

The project, which is led by the Barca Foundation in addition to several other partners, aims to “promote social cohesion and prevent future violent conflicts and radicalization processes among new generations —with special attention to the sons and daughters of victims of the Islamic State— through community football schools that promote a culture of peace, dialogue, and coexistence,” read a statement by the Spanish team on Monday.

The Hope League project is set to see six schools established in the region, four of which will be in northeastern Syria’s Kobane, Hasaka, Raqqa, and Qahtaniya (Tirbespi), with another two in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Sulaimani provinces. The initiative is projected to see “the direct participation of over 600 children and young people (ages 8 to 14).”

FC Barcelona is one of the largest and most successful Spanish football clubs with hundreds of millions of supporters worldwide. The club’s youth academy has historically been home to some of the most popular players, including Lionel Messi—widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the game. The five-time UEFA Champions League-winning side also garners a lot of attention from the Middle East, including northeastern Syria, the Kurdistan Region, and Iraq, where they have hundreds of thousands of avid supporters.

Prominent Kurdistan Region football pundit and head of Ava Sports Chenar Abdulqadir hailed the move as a “great step,” adding that “Barcelona is known as a very active club in the fields of charity and humanitarianism.” He lauded the club's initiative towards the war-weary regions and their emphasis on inclusivity.

Abdulqadir noted that a lot of reactions have already come in from the community, with people inquiring about the enrollment and application processes, while voicing their readiness to provide assistance “of any kind” in both the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria to make sure that the project goes as smoothly as possible, adding that they will be reaching out to the club to offer their assistance.

“From 25 June 2025 until October 2026, the participating groups will attend regular football school sessions and take part in two large gatherings planned for early 2026,” read the statment from the Blaugrana.

The move aims to offset “narratives of hatred and violence before they take root,” by offering more constructive alternatives to create a sense of “identity and belonging,” putting particular emphasis on empowering “children and adolescents, especially girls and those from marginalized communities, such as displaced or refugee populations, rural residents, and ethnic minorities.”

The project is structured along three main axes of action, according to FC Barcelona, which include: research and development to come up with a model of “peace-building through sport,” training the instructors and nourishing of local organizations working on peace-building, with “a gender-sensitive approach,” and building “community-led” establishment such as self-managing football schools that do not rely on future international funding, to become spaces of “collective resilience.”

The Catalan club and its partners view the project as a “pilot experience.” The establishment will be followed closely with the aim of “becoming a replicable methodology in other areas of the world,” according to the statement.

Spain and Iraq have previously partnered in sporting initiatives. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani in 2023 oversaw the signing of two partnership contracts between the Iraqi Football Association and LaLiga, aiming to better organize the Iraq Stars League, the country's top-flight football league.