The refugee stars at the World Cup

By Akpo Esco 

When Antonio Rudiger entered the fray as a substitute during Germany's World Cup opener - a 7-1 victory over Curacao at the Houston Stadium - he knew his large extended family would be watching on proudly.

But things could have been very different if the Real Madrid defender's parents had not managed to flee Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war for a new life in Europe.

"

There was only the decision to get out of there," Rudiger told BBC Sport Africa.

"

I spoke many times with my brother about it, and he told me the stories of what he saw there and what a march they made from Kono [the family's home district in the far east of Sierra Leone] to the capital city to find a bit of safety."

The distance between Kono and the capital Freetown is approximately 210 miles (340km) and the journey proved perilous, with Rudiger's uncle taking extreme action to prevent his nieces and nephews being swept up by rebels and turned into one of the thousands of child soldiers forced into battle during the conflict.

He] hid them in a bag of rice and then went back to get them and then to continue the journey," Rudiger added. "And sometimes they had to lay low, pretending they [were] dead to not get shot or to not get abducted."

Rudiger, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Berlin after his family were accepted by Germany as refugees, while other relatives began new lives in other places such as the UK and the US.

The 33-year-old remembers growing up in one of Germany's refugee centres.

"

We had our room, then a family next to us had their room, so we were all together," he said.

"It influenced me a lot because nothing is given in life. You have to work for things, you have to sacrifice a lot to get where you sometimes get your goal."

Culled from BBC sports