Xherdan Shaqiri was the perfect choice for the Swiss FA when it came to finding a superstar to front a campaign for football to help the integration of refugees.
The Stoke City forward can call on his own past escaping the Kosovo war and setting up a new home in Switzerland, where the game saw him settle in and make friends.
He hopes other children in such terrible circumstances can discover a similar release – and is calling on grass roots clubs to give them the welcome he once enjoyed.
“I never forget that I was born in Kosovo. In a very, very poor country, where there is not much work and not much money,” he said.
“My family did not have much. My uncle’s house burned down and our house was left standing but everything had been stolen or broken and the walls were sprayed.
“I am really glad that we found in Switzerland a safe country where we could live our lives in peace.
“Football was the best thing that could happen to me. I lived about five minutes away from the pitch (at SV Augst, near Basel) and that was perfect. On the pitch you are free, you have no worries, you are liberated.”
Shaqiri is in a host of Switzerland international players with similar roots, including Arsenal midfield Granit Xhaka, who was born in Basel to Kosovo-Albanian parents.
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The 25-year-old has always embraced his heritage, wearing boots bearing the flags of Switzerland, Kosovo and Albania when Switzerland played against Albania in a qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.
He said in an interview for CNN: “I was born in Kosovo, my parents are from Kosovo but I grew up in Switzerland.
“I live the Swiss mentality but the Kosovo mentality too because when I go home, I speak Albanian. I live both mentalities so for me, it's not a big difference.”
Kosovo were only granted Fifa membership last year but Shaqiri, having admitted he was considering his allegiance, had any option taken away after he played for Switzerland at Euro 2016.