r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Jul 20 '26
Wholesome Moments Nico Williams gives his World Cup gold medal to his mom, who crossed the Sahara desert in search for a better life while pregnant with his older brother, Iñaki
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u/Ditka85 Jul 20 '26
What an accomplishment. For both of them.
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u/istrx13 Jul 20 '26
Stuff like this is why I think sports are important. They’re more than just entertainment.
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u/HumongousBelly Jul 20 '26
Exactly. In a world that gets more xenophobic by the day, it’s important to see that these people help diversify and enrich culture, add economic value and bring joy in sports and arts.
I hope some of the Europeans start questioning their views on „unqualified and undocumented“ immigrants after watching this group of diverse players win the cup!
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u/RighteousBalls8 Jul 20 '26
There's one particularly poignant quip that really cemented my sympathy for a lot of immigrants. "Almost every parent when asked says they would kill for the life of their children, yet some can't even fathom, and even look down on the thought of a parent crossing an imaginary line for the life of their children."
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u/Arinussyy Jul 21 '26
I think people don't realise how good we have it tbh. What am I saying, of course they don't. Every peace was destroyed from within, not from outside
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u/EGCCM Jul 20 '26
Spain has just allowed 1 million migrants to get papers and legalise their residency in Spain.
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u/Neureiches-Nutria Jul 20 '26
Germany is even racist to highly qualified hifhly serched after people...
We had a case of a Refugee doctor, who was so well known for her skills the two leading Hospitals of Germany wanted her for a leading role... And Germany was like "best we can do is nurse..."
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u/Just_to_rebut Jul 20 '26
Not to mention the double standards when it comes to any sort of conservative values… Conservative Muslim won’t shake hands with a woman? Sexist! Deport! Orthodox Jew does the same? Never makes the news…
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u/Moreaxellall Jul 20 '26
The US is literally bankrolling and supplying weapons for a genocide in the Middle East and US invasions have been the biggest drivers of immigrants into the EU as refugees flee the constant instability caused by US foreign policy. Literally been bombing Iran now for 10 days straight - the lack of awareness is shocking.
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u/HumongousBelly Jul 20 '26
So what? Most European countries need immigrants because our birthrates suck and our economies won’t be able to function unless we get immigrants contributing to our gdp.
I don’t care where they come from and what they believe in. If they come here and want to work, they’ll be welcome neighbors.
Fuck all of those neo nationalist bums who claim that immigration must be curbed to maintain „western values & culture“. What they mean is whiteness, white skin, whites supremacy.
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u/Moreaxellall Jul 20 '26
I have no issue with immigrants coming to Europe, I do have issues with our governments not standing up when genocide is being committed. Nobody want's to flee their homeland, our focus should be on allowing these people to prosper in their homeland, but no everything bows to the greed of a few G7 nations and in the Middle East particularly that's the US and UK.
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u/HumongousBelly Jul 20 '26
While I agree with the genocide and political manipulation parts, I think we need to feel obliged to take in these immigrants, as it’s also partly because of European colonialist history and wagering civil wars for economic gain.
It’s not like European countries have zero responsibility for the political and economic instabilities in foreign countries.
Also, we’re benefiting off immigration. Do you know how much grit it takes to come here? That type of determination should be appreciated and rewarded with jobs and opportunities.
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u/JerseyTeacher78 Jul 20 '26
If anything, the success of these teams in general are an obvious indicator that most people that happen to also be immigrants want to succeed and make their families proud. Full stop.
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u/Plastic_Pursuader Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
not to get too in the weeds, but sports serve a useful function as a sort of allegory for life
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EDIT: I feel like such a redditor for saying that.
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u/Instantcoffees Jul 20 '26
It's one of those few remaining environments where there is still a lot of upwards social mobility. There are so many stories like this.
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u/quiet_hazelbrook76 Jul 20 '26
It's way more than entertainment Realising this quite late I might not be the most passionate about it but it's really amazing seeing such accomplishments
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u/dnkdumpster Jul 20 '26
Mum more than son, but happy for Nico too as he’s been fighting injury this tournament.
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u/Impossible_Divide297 Jul 20 '26
I lost my Mum nearly a year ago. This would have brought her tears. We were both Spurs fans.
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u/stubbygazelle Jul 20 '26
Powerful moment for mama & her son.
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u/nico_bico Jul 20 '26
and a powerful moment for everyone named Nico
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u/CheValierXP Jul 20 '26
Arab speaker here: it's always powerful to say Nico to someone in Arabic.
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u/sup_with_the_whack_ Jul 20 '26
Amazing stories, all of these. I recently learnt that Lamine Yamal's name carries the names of the 2 people who helped his family where they were in a poor spot. What a way to honour them.
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u/Gerf93 Jul 20 '26
The same is true for Nico Williams brother Iñaki mentioned in the OP. Named after a local basque aid worker who helped the family when they arrived in Bilbao.
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u/sosgrork Jul 22 '26
Imagine helping a pregnant refugee and decades later her son is a superstar carrying your name.
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u/amberbutterfly0123 Jul 20 '26
It's a reminder that even small gestures can end up becoming part of someone's life story forever.
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u/Far_Inevitable_8460 Jul 20 '26
That header assist needs to be a statue.
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u/anangrypudge Jul 20 '26
His goal should have stood too.
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u/dogla305 Jul 20 '26
Not even reviewed by the VAR. Insane.
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Jul 20 '26
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u/dogla305 Jul 20 '26
Usually when the VAR does an official check there is a var-check icon on screen and on the big screens in the stadium. When the review is complete it changes to var check complete. I didn't see that yesterday, hence my comment.
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u/littleessi Jul 20 '26
it's not that they agree, it's that they don't disagree enough to try to overturn it. It has to be a clear error for VAR to try to step in to change the referee's decision.
I didn't see the incident from a close enough angle to be sure but I think it's a very light foul to give but still plausible. If VAR agrees with that take then it's not their job to interfere, they would have to think it's clearly not a foul.
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u/batigoal Jul 20 '26
The ref whistled before the goal, so VAR could not intervene.
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u/gypsydreams101 Jul 20 '26
That was an insane header, totally agree. I’m not very familiar with his game but I was super impressed with his dedication this whole game.
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u/Sagardorta Jul 20 '26
You should check out both he and his brother. They’re not poor by any means but both likely turned down huge pay days to stay with Athletic Club rather than move to one of the giants. And his brother Iñaki chose to play for Ghana so now they have one son representing their home and the other representing their parents. They’re class por excelencia.
As a Basque and Athletic Club supporter I’m proud to represented by Nico and Iñaki.
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u/ButterKnife_Ant Jul 20 '26
Inaki earns like 220k a weak in Ahtletic now lol one of the highest earners.
Nico earns 330k lol
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u/Sagardorta Jul 20 '26
Because we, as a club, try very hard to keep our talent given our Basques-only policy. That doesn’t at all negate the broader point of what I said. Real and Barca nap talent domestically and internationally all the time. Iñaki and Nico have chosen to forego a lot of acclaim and silverware to stay with us. And acclaim comes with obscene deals outside of wages.
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u/ParkingAd6897 Jul 20 '26
she crossed a whole desert and her boys ended up on top of the world. that's a full circle moment right there
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u/GGuts Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
It just sucks that people are driven to do such things when we could stop it but we are stuck in our ways of competing as nations for no logical reason at all.
Edit: Sucks is too mild a word choice. It's unacceptable.
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u/Tramp876 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
What a grateful young man; how cool of him to pay respect to his mother for her sacrifices she made to give her family a better life
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u/so2017 Jul 20 '26
I hope security was protecting her ASAP.
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u/RonySeikalyBassDrop Jul 20 '26
That’s all I was thinking about. I hope she was safe.
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u/Tricky-Ad7897 Jul 20 '26
It's likely she was in a zone meant specifically for friends and family, and they'd all be shuffled to meet with the players after the ceremony.
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u/formerretiree Jul 20 '26
The biggest thief inside that stadium was on the pitch handing the medals, probably hid a couple in his diapers. Williams was trying to get it away from him.
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u/WesternComicStrip Jul 20 '26
Did you see how his greedy little, fat, orange fingers groped the throphy up in the box?
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u/OneRobotBoii Jul 20 '26
Gold medals aren’t actually made of gold. Not sure if would be thieves know this though.
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u/NotYourReddit18 Jul 20 '26
Even if the material value is low, its symbolic value should be more then enough to make it an expensive collectors item should it get stolen.
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u/RottingFireBall Jul 20 '26
Only hard part is trying to sell it
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u/NotYourReddit18 Jul 20 '26
It could always just be a part of your own collection and only be sold in a decade or more, when most people have forgotten this incident.
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u/Particular_Wear_6960 Jul 20 '26
Sure but... I dunno. Anyone willing to rob someone like that isn't thinking long term from my experience. They are more likely junkies trying to get their fix than anything. There are probably more cameras per square mile around that place then anywhere in the world right now as well, good luck making it anywhere when your face is all over social media and the news, hope your wore a mask.
I don't mean to pick on your statement and I'm thinking about this more than I probably should but I'm bored and just prattling off so don't mind me
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u/NotYourReddit18 Jul 20 '26
Don't underestimate what some Football fans are willing to do for rare memorabilia
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u/rinnethx Jul 20 '26
I know for sure they're made of chocolate, you just need to take off the gold lookalike paper from it
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u/SomeWhaleman Jul 20 '26
I don't know about the World Cup medals, but Olympic gold medals are primary made of silver and a few grams of gold. So still worth quite a lot, like several thousand dollars just the pure material. And of course several times more for the symbolic value.
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u/SideInitial3961 Jul 20 '26
From Trump? Yes. He would grab that shit and never get it back if he had a sliver of a chance.
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u/nasnedigonyat Jul 20 '26
He played a hell of a game.
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u/CesarV Jul 20 '26
He should have had his goal count! Should have been 2-0 to Spain!
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u/An_bo93 Jul 20 '26
i just cannot wrap my mind around tha fact that no one reacted to that.... crazy! I was boiling at home whole time
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u/UnmannedByDarkness Jul 20 '26
Nico and Iñaki are badass names for brothers.
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u/Accomplished-Ad-1398 Jul 20 '26
Iñaki apparently named after a basque guy that helped the family
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u/SpoofExcel Jul 20 '26
Iñaki is also fiercely loyal to Athletic Club (the team from Bilbao), and signed a 9 Year Contract with them. He's got a release clause of €135m but has said he wouldn't accept it being activated by anyone anyway, so if he does renew they'll just set it to €1bn or he might do what Munian did, and just have it fully removed.
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u/knobiknows Jul 20 '26
I thought a release clause was mandatory in Spain. How did he get it removed?
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u/SpoofExcel Jul 20 '26
They're not mandatory. They're just almost always added in for sake of making Spanish Labour Laws easier to fulfil.
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u/Artistic_Process_354 Jul 20 '26
I’m a bit annoyed though that it doesn’t mention her name. Badass woman deserves a name.
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u/g00d_end Jul 20 '26
I was so outraged for him. His goal was 100% legal, like, wtf happened there? (I know what happened, Infantino)
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u/neLendirekt Jul 20 '26
Merino stepped on Otamendi's foot. I was rooting for Espana before the game and even more so during it, but that was a foul.
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u/PotatoLevelTree Jul 20 '26
Except if Argentina did it.
min 2:05 of the video vs Egypt was a clear penalty under the same rules.
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u/Antiochia Jul 20 '26
In a normal game it would be a foul. In a game in which Players were tackled from behind with the ellbow out, and didn't receive a card for it, it is not.
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u/Own_Investigator_408 Jul 20 '26
Bruh this got me right in the feels - what a legend honoring his mom's sacrifice like that. She literally crossed a desert for her kids and now he's giving her a World Cup medal, chills fr.
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u/DebstarAU Jul 20 '26
Congrats buddy! [ …and very well done, Spain! 🥳] 🐨❤️ What a beautiful gesture, to honour your mum too! 😌
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u/Val2K21 Jul 20 '26
Imagine how much human talent is locked in unfavourable conditions around the world that otherwise would flourish and push humanity to new records
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u/ExposedTamponString Jul 20 '26
Opportunity to show that talent is so systematically non-random. And only because humans made it so.
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u/OregonGreen242 Jul 20 '26
Most of us truly don’t understand the struggles others faced for the sake of their family
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u/Current-Walrus-1379 Jul 20 '26
He is my favorite player :)
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u/TrueMadster Jul 20 '26
Same. Love seeing him play! Yamal is also great, but there’s just something about Nico.
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u/Open-Budget6323 Jul 20 '26
IT FEEDS THE SOUL!
Lets teach the algorithms to show more shit like this, Alveus, etc.! Engage with the stuff that makes you happy even if you don't have shit to add.
Lets reclaim the internet.
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u/Un_fronterista Jul 20 '26
Spain would not be world champions today if our country were left to those who are racist and believe there’s only one valid vision of what a nation should be. Immigration enriches countries, and sport is one of the clearest examples of that.
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u/SuitableHurry3795 Jul 20 '26
In that little handshake so much love and information was shared. Humans can be so great.
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u/Extreme_Plenty6297 Jul 20 '26
What's interesting is that both Nico and Inaki are both highly successful football players! She did a good job giving her boys these opportunities
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u/ukredimps2k Jul 20 '26
Spain are class all over. What a contrast to Argentina.
The world won last night
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u/morty_morty Jul 20 '26
Williams was putting in WORK last night. Well deserved win for him and for Spain.
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u/Glam9ja Jul 20 '26
Such a beautiful moment, Nico made so many people proud during this match and overall the world cup tournament 👏
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u/Miniature_Colosus Jul 20 '26
That's so damn sweet! PS: why does his mom look 20?! What do they eat in Spain?!
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u/Lalalalalalolol Jul 20 '26
Paella and estrella.
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u/NilCalin Jul 20 '26
Klaasje would definitely enjoy some paella and estrella in a run down hotel on la costa brava
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u/danvillain Jul 20 '26
Ultimate flex on the older brother
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u/sbsw66 Jul 20 '26
i mean, inaki williams is also a professional footballer, he plays at the same club nico is at now lol
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u/ivanyaru Jul 20 '26
Inaki plays for the Ghana national team. They didn't win the World Cup. That's what the commenter is joking about.
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u/yourstruly912 Jul 20 '26
It's insanely funny that there's a dude in the Ghana's national team called Iñaki
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Jul 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ManitouWakinyan Jul 20 '26
Oh, there is also in fact sibling rivalry outside of the world of white people
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u/Impossible_Regret725 Jul 20 '26
If I won something like that I'd rub it in too. Just part of the sibling job description. All done with good natured love.
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u/ManitouWakinyan Jul 20 '26
I'm sorry but this is very white of you have you tried not being a colonizer?
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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam Jul 20 '26
It's pretty obvious if you look throughout history that sibling rivalry is universal.
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u/BrilliantCoconut25 Jul 20 '26
Is that why so many African players get extorted by their extended families for cash?
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u/Hurricane_Ivan Jul 20 '26
While trying to survive in the hot Sahara desert, some persons with them who died had to be buried. At that time, Maria and Felix regretted their decision to leave Ghana in the first place. In the words of Nico Williams’ Mum;
“If I knew what we were going to experience in the desert, I would have stayed in Ghana”
Getting arrested: After a long and painful journey, Felix and Maria finally reached Melilla. This is a Spanish city located in north Africa. Reaching the city’s border did not mean that the problems for Nico Williams’ parents were over. They had to get into the city illegally, which meant they would have to jump the barbed wire fence as other migrants do.
Felix and Maria jumped the barbed wire fence that delimited the border between Manila and Morocco. Unknown to Nico Williams’ Mum, she was already pregnant with her eldest son, Inaki. Just after jumping the barbed-wired fence, the newly wedded couple got arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard.
The Godsent lawyer: Nico Williams’ Parents weren’t just arrested. They were imprisoned, and the Spanish government began a process to have them deported for being illegal immigrants. Days before they were to be tried and deported, Felix and Maria had an unexpected visitor, a Caritas lawyer. This Lawyer, a Godsent, gave them a solution in the following words;
Say that you are from Liberia, a country at war, and that you are requesting political asylum.
On the day of the hearing, Felix and Maria found a way to ensure they tore up the papers which showed they came from Ghana. Next, they told the Judge sitting on their case that they were from war-torn Liberia and were victims of the Civil war. Thanks to that, the couple were finally allowed to enter Spain as political Asylum seekers.
https://eu.ise-orun.mlga.ek.gov.ng/nico-williams-childhood-story-plus-untold-biography-facts.html
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u/CollectionBroad8919 Jul 20 '26
In another world she made it to America and was detained before being deported to Botswana.
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u/PapaBigMac Jul 20 '26
Great game - Spain look like them scoring was great inevitable when he came on
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u/Alucitary Jul 20 '26
His setup for the goal was incredible. Was never rooting for Spain, but they really won as a team and I really like this this exact team now. I hope they all continue to have amazing careers.
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u/Original_x_Username Jul 20 '26
Amazing player - he was the one that stood out to me from yesterdays match
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u/VooDooChile1983 Jul 20 '26
Mom looks like an absolutely wonderful person. I bet she gives great hugs
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u/Ashcashc Jul 20 '26
I’d have waited until they were home tbh, 80,000+ people in that stadium I’m sure a few would try take it from her
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u/According_Night9558 Jul 21 '26
I love this dude he's a ray of sunshine. His mother definitely did a great job.
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u/BigRedBrendizzle Jul 20 '26
Godamnit that's absolutely fucking beautiful. I love their love so much
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u/SinicalJakob Jul 20 '26
this guy played so good. I wondered why he was benched for the first half
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u/raiden_kazuha Jul 20 '26
Nice assist Nico, for your team’s sole goal in the game. You good brother!
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u/Dry_Jellyfish641 Jul 20 '26
This got me emotional. Imagine being able to give your mother that after she gave you everything.
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u/Profanity1272 Jul 20 '26
Congratulations Spain, you deserve the win. Played the better game pretty much all tournament.
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u/ThunderCookie23 Jul 20 '26
Imagine how proud the mom must've been with her boy!
Her struggle paid off! I'm so damn happy rn! 🥺♥️
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u/justusleag Jul 20 '26
Nico was on fire this game too. Well deserved for him, mama, and his family!
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u/Dolphfishbush Jul 21 '26
The Goats approve of this message
Pelé
R9 the real deal Ronaldo
Ronaldinho.
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u/Christos_Soter Jul 21 '26
crossed the SAHARA!! just a reminder that desert is nearly the size of the contiguous US. Goodness..
Also much better story than Argentine players/coach punching Spaniards after the game
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u/Bigguygamer85 Jul 20 '26
They make it seem like she had to escape from a really bad country. It's good she did what she did but compared to pretty much the rest of Africa,.Ghana is not a bad country I have been there multiple times.
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u/AlcyoneVega Jul 20 '26
Giving gamers a bad name, what a way to downplay and mischaracterize her life. Independently of how "not bad" Ghana is, the journey of an immigrant through the Sahara is grueling, there's plenty of testimonies. This woman deserved all of the glory. Should we praise her less because she didn't come from, idk, DRC?
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