The story of Bayern Muchen's left back, Alphonso Davies, is quite different. This is because, unlike other players with a grass to grace story, Alphonso seem to not just move from grass but from the survival phase to be a world star. His troublesome beginnings never gave him reasons to quit, he fought hard and today, he is enjoying the fruit of his labor.





Alphonso Boyle Davies is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as awinger for Bundesliga club, Bayern Munich and the Canada national team; although he was born to Liberian Refugee parents.
The rarity of Davies goes well beyond the coincidence of his Canadianness and his exceptional control of a football. Because before he was from Canada, he was from Ghana, and also from Liberia and also form no where.
His life journey began at Buduburam, a sprawling refugee camp, about thirty miles outside of the Ghanaian capital of Accra.
His parents, Victoria and Debeah, were from Liberia and after surviving their country's first civil war that raged for eight years (1989-1997) and saw an estimated 250,000 people lose their lives. Like so many others, they were forced to flee their home in Monrovia and seek refuge anywhere they could.

In Ghana, they were blessed with a first child, Alphonso, in 2000 but were still in a state of flux, unsure of what the future had in store and cold only watch as their homeland was brought to its knees. They were based in Buduburam refugee camp for years.The search for clean water, food, simply staying alive; every hour that passed a triumph of survival.
The family applied for resettlement in Canada and in 2016, they arrived to a temporary home in Windsor, just across the lake from Detroit.
In Canada, at the age of 5, Davies carried on playing football as he had always done back at the refugee camp. A teacher at his Catholic junior school in Edmonton saw him dominate in playground knockabout and enrolled him in a free-of-charge, inner-city league.



Then youth coach after coach passed him up the development ladder, propelling him on to bigger stages than each could provide, until he entered the Vancouver Whitecaps youth system and broke into the senior side of Whitecaps FC 2, which compete in the second tier USL Championship league in the United States, at the age of 15.

Under coach Marco Bossio, he blossomed. Quickly, Bossio realized Davies was a rare find and began to relentlessly call the Vancouver Whitecaps to try and whip up some interest. Finally, they invited him for a residency trial and the rest is history.
At the time of his signing, he became the youngest player signed to a USL contract at 15 years, 5 months in April 2016.
On May, 2016, he scored his first professional goal, making him the youngest goal scorer in USL history at 15 years, 6 months. He scored two goals in 11 games during the 2016 season.

Davies was named to the Whitecaps roster for the 2016 Canadian Championship on a short term contract. On July 15, 2016, Davies signed a first team contract with the Whitecaps through 2018, with options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Davies made his MLS debut on July 16, 2016 becoming the second youngest player to play in MLS, behind Freddy Adu. During the 2016 season, Davies played in eight MLS games.

Following impressive early MLS appearances, Davies attracted interest and was scouted by European clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool, and was also named one of the 60 best young soccer talents in the world in 2017. Davies was named the Vancouver Whitecaps FC player of the Year on October 2018, and also received the Whitecaps Goal of the Year award.
Just two years later, Bayern Munich stumped up $14 million for Davies, and on the evidence of his sparkling performances at left-back this season, that was a bargain price. On July 25, 2018, Vancouver announced that it had agreed to a multi-million-dollar transfer of Davies to Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.


From a kid born in a refugee camp back in Ghana, this kid has managed to keep his head up and now he plays in one of the best and biggest team in Europe, alongside the best set of football players as teammates; and against some of the best football players football has ever seen.He is now a cult hero in his hometown, Vancouver, and I believe to most of the kids in the Buduburam refugee camp, back in Ghana.

I hope Davies' survival story inspires you whenever you come across any form adversity, or if you are currently facing one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syew2qOW8As