Ben Gucciardi on Soccer Without Borders’ 20 years of play, education and community

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Twenty years ago, the idea of helping a young child who had to leave their home country due to war, poverty or ethnic, tribal or religious violence was not controversial. 

“It’s a basic human thing,” Ben Gucciardi notes.

In 2026, immigration — who gets to come to, and stay in, the United States — has become a political minefield. 

Gucciardi stays out of political minefields. But his work on another field — the soccer pitch — has defined the past two decades. The San Francisco native and former Lehigh University player (where he studied global education leadership) is the founding director of Soccer Without Borders. 

The non-profit launched in Oakland uses the sport as a vehicle for positive change. It provides underserved youth in four American locations (the San Francisco Bay  Area, Colorado, Maryland and Massachusetts), plus Nicaragua and Uganda, with the athletic, academic and emotional resources to grow, achieve and prosper.

Since its founding, SWB has impacted over 60,000 young people from 122 countries, speaking 112 languages. Their high school graduation rate is 95 percent. They’ve been honored by FIFA, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and more. 

On May 2, Soccer Without Borders celebrates its 20^th anniversary, with a gala at the Oakland Roots and Soul training facility. It’s a time for Gucciardi to look back — and forward.

Before Gucciardi was a teenager, his soccer coach took Gucciardi’s team to Mexico. The high level of play, facilities and soccer’s importance in the community made an impact on the youngster. As he developed into an ODP and college player, he understood even better the power of soccer to change lives. 

While a student teaching English learners, Gucciardi realized that although not everyone wanted to be in a classroom, they all loved soccer. But the field was much more than a place to play. It was where they found respect and mutual understanding, and where they could talk about things they otherwise would not.

Gucciardi vowed to find a way outside of school to teach, and reach, those youngsters.

Back in California, his partner Lauren Markham (now his wife) was working in refugee resettlement.

Noticing a huge gap in services for children, she suggested creating a summer activity to ease their isolation. Partnering with the International Rescue Committee, they held a soccer camp for youth recently resettled in Oakland. The majority came from Liberia, Myanmar, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Soccer Without Borders’ variety of programs now help participants navigate a new country, language and culture through soccer, academics and emotional well-being. Strong relationships with mentors and peers foster connections, friendships and community cohesion.

From its start, Soccer Without Borders has been organized around three pillars: soccer, education and community, but flexibility has allowed it to evolve and adapt to changing needs (such as providing more tools for coaches and coordinators), and the changing makeup of refugees and immigrants.

Gucciardi has evolved too. He’s moved through various roles — founder, executive director, Bay  Area director — and now serves as director of special projects, focused on fundraising and training for the 60 full-time staff members. 

Along the way, he has learned “so much about other cultures.” He has gone to mosques and an Ethiopian church with players. He has shared meals with their families, and learned their stories.

Gucciardi has also learned how “sport can be a way for kids to learn about their own emotions and inner lives, and work through difficult feelings.”

Personally, he says, “I’ve learned how to use soccer to teach things that go way beyond sport. Everyone talks about it, but we do it intentionally.”

And he has learned “the importance of consistency. These kids have so many ups and downs. Staying for a few years in their lives is so important.” In fact, he says, “consistent relationships are more important to them than anything else.”

Gucciardi is proud that more than a third of the Soccer Without Borders staff are SWB alumni. That includes the director of the Uganda program (a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the Bay Area coaching director, who came from Myanmar. They want to give back to others some of what they’ve gotten from Soccer Without Borders.

There are daily challenges, from finding field space to overcoming bureaucratic barriers. Over the past year, a new one arose.

“Funding for underserved communities has been greatly reduced or eliminated,” Gucciardi says. Cuts to the Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, refugee resettlement funds and more created “havoc for our budget and planning.”

In addition, a “climate of fear and a sense of being targeted has had a palpable effect on engagement with school, and inclusion. It’s deeply upsetting to me. The care and love in our program is so important, because it’s counter to what we’re seeing and feeling elsewhere.”

Soccer Without Borders has found it more difficult to reach new arrivals. Families are less trusting of all organizations. And youngsters feel more distanced from school, where so much of SWB’s work takes place.

Recent staff training has included a new component: What to do if ICE agents are around.

Still, Gucciardi says, “We try to deliver as robust a program as we can. We still have full teams.”

As it enters its third decade in a rapidly changing nation, Soccer Without Borders is looking for ways to share what it has learned about supporting youth through soccer with other non-profits and clubs. The goal, Gucciardi says, is to add more education and programs, and expand to meet new needs.

And, on May 2, to celebrate.

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• For more information about Soccer Without Borders‘ 20th anniversary gala including ticket purchases, go HERE.

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