''The Team'' (also known in French as ''L'Équipe'') is an international multi-ethnic and multicultural television series produced by Search for Common Ground (SFCG). It is a flagship television program by SFCG, used as an education tool through a dramatization of various young players associated to each other through their common love of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(soccer). The common thread between all the series is promote, through the common love of the game of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(soccer), the importance of

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, commitment, cooperation (teamwork),

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

, overcoming of adversity and

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...

and bridging of differences between people of various ethnic, religious, economic and societal backgrounds by bringing them together.

Context

Using the popularity of football (called

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

), the show uses sports as a metaphor to unification while addressing local, deep-rooted conflict. The show follows specific characters on a football team who must learn to work together to overcome their differences and win the game. The show is specifically tailored to the country in which it airs. Each country has different issues it faces, and the scripts represent these differences. The cast, writers and production crews are, whenever possible, all indigenous to the country. In the DRC, ''The Team'' deals specifically with women's rights. Part of the success of ''The Team'' is that the audience can relate to the characters. The characters portrayed on the soap opera are from varied ethnic, religious, educational and economic backgrounds. ''The Team'' aired in a dozen countries in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, notably

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and had already aired as a radio program in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Second seasons were in production in three countries. According to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', nearly 25% of Moroccans watch the locally produced episodes of ''The Team''. In 2007, Kenya experienced post-election violence. In response to this violence, SFCG, in partnership with the Nairobi Peace Initiative, Media Focus on Africa, the UK's

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

and the US Agency for International Development, launched ''The Team: Kenya'' The show follows players from the Imani F.C. team. Imani translates as Faith in the local language. The players are from all different parts of Kenyan society- rich and poor, educated and uneducated, urban and rural and male and female. The players have to work together to win games, and through working together, they overcome their differences. The show originally broadcast in May, 2009. A third season is currently in production.

Series

Many series have been broadcast or are in process of being broadcast in local television stations in

and the

. Each series usually consists of between 10 and 13 episodes as a television

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

series. Some broadcasters, owing to the success of the initial series have announced new episodes in a renewed season. There was also a 50-episode radio version in

References

External links

''The Team'' page on Search for Common Ground website''The Team'' Common trailer - from various country versions
*Lebanon
The Team Lebanon
*Nepal
Hamro Team Nepal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Team 2010s French television series Association football television series