The importance of sports associations for the integration process. A qualitative study of young people with foreign background and their way into the Swedish society.

The aim of this paper was to study how sports associations or support associations that practice sports, work to include young people with a foreign background in their activities, what activities such associations organize to help these young people create new contacts with other social arenas and what measures they take to counteract or prevent social exclusion. We studied whether and to what extent the members' participation helps them to integrate more easily into the Swedish society by learning the language and getting acquainted with Swedish culture. The study was conducted with semi-structured interviews. We interviewed two leaders and two coaches who are all active in associations that aim to assist the young people with foreign background. This selection of respondents gave us a broad spectrum of what is going on inside these associations. With the interviews as a starting point, we have tracked various positive and less positive topics. Young people with a foreign background can end up in various difficult situations, such as unemployment, which can lead to exclusion or other exclusionary factors that in a broader sense will affect both young people and society. Our study results in that participation in sports or support associations can help young people with a foreign background to integrate more easily into Swedish society, but it is crucial that societal resources are not deficient