Luma al-Mufleh
The founder and coach of the Fugees program. Luma is born and raised in Amman, Jordan, and attends the American Community School in Amman. At the school, she is inspired by her volleyball coach, Rhonda…
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Mandela Ziaty
The middle son of Beatrice Ziaty, and the brother of Darlington and Jeremiah. Darlington had escaped with the rest of his family from Liberia, after watching his father killed in their home. Mandela…
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Beatrice Ziaty
The mother of the three Ziaty boys: Darlington, Mandela, and Jeremiah. Beatrice escaped the Liberian civil war with three of her sons after watching her husband be murdered by rebel soldiers. In…
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Kanue Biah
A Liberian player on the Under Fifteens team. He fled the war when he was just two years old and was separated from his parents. He lives with his uncle Barlea, who works twenty…
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Generose
The mother of Bien, Alex, Ive, and Alyah. Generose fled with her three boys from civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis peoples in Burundi, Africa. They had landed in Mozambique…
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Darlington Ziaty
The oldest son of Beatrice Ziaty, and the older brother of Jeremiah and Mandela. Darlington had escaped with the rest of his family from Liberia after watching his father be killed in their…
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Idwar Dikori
A player on the Under Thirteens team, Idwar is Robin’s older brother and Shamsoun’s younger brother. The Dikoris are from the Nuba valley of Sudan, where they had been driven out by an…
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Warren St. John
The author of Outcasts United. St. John largely absents himself from the narrative, but there are a few key instances in which he features prominently because he spends so much time following the Fugees…
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Robin Dikori
A nine-year-old player on the Under Thirteens team, and Idwar and Shamsoun’s younger brother. The Dikoris are from the Nuba valley of Sudan, where they had been driven out by an Islamist regime. They…
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Fornatee
A Liberian player on the Under Fifteens team, who is very close with Prince and Mandela. After Prince quits the team, Fornatee loses a lot of motivation and shows up very late to games…
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Mayor Lee Swaney
The mayor of Clarkston, who is elected in 2001 while branding himself as a “champion of Old Clarkston.” Mayor Swaney vacillates between helping and hindering the Fugees. At first, he helps Luma use the field…
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Rhonda Brown
Luma’s high school volleyball coach. Coach Brown becomes a model for Luma’s own coaching style: she is very hard on her players, expecting discipline and hard work. She doesn’t make the team do anything…
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Prince
A Liberian player on the Under Fifteens team. Because Prince is talented, Luma sometimes allows him to skirt the rules, letting him arrive late or skip tutoring sessions. But when this spurs other players to…
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Jeremiah Ziaty
The youngest son of Beatrice Ziaty, and the younger brother of Darlington and Mandela. Jeremiah escaped with the rest of his family from Liberia, after watching his father be killed in their home…
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Bienvenue Ntwari
Generose’s middle son and the brother of Alex, Ive, and Alyah. Bien escaped civil war in Burundi with the rest of his family and spent four years in a refugee camp…
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Alex
Generose’s oldest son, and the brother of Bien, Ive, and Alyah. Alex plays on the Under Fifteens team, and he is also given the duty of caring for his baby sister…
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Qendrim Bushi
A star midfielder on the Under Thirteens team. Qendrim flees Kosovo with his family when he is only five years old due to ethnic violence between a Serbian-dominated Yugoslav army and the Kosovo Liberation Army…
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Grace Balegamire
A boy from the Congo who plays on the Under Thirteens team. Through much of the book, Grace’s father is in prison in Kinshasa and they are unsure of when he will be released…
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Natnael
An Ethiopian player on the Under Fifteens team. After Prince and Fornatee quit and Luma cancels the Under Fifteens season, Natnael works to rebuild the team alongside Kanue and Mandela. But when Mandela continues…
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Minor Characters
Ive
Generose’s youngest son, and the brother of Alex, Bien, and Alyah. Ive is seven when he arrives in the United States from Burundi and picks up English the fastest. Thus, he is often given the responsibility of speaking with American adults like landlords and billing agents.
Tito
A Liberian player who Osman recruited to the Under Fifteen Fugees. Tito pretends to be in a gang and, as a result, is shot in the face by an American teenager. Luma then kicks him off the team, worried that the gangs will try to come after other Fugees.
Osman
A Liberian player on the Under Fifteen team who is friends with Tito. When Tito pretends to be in a gang, Luma kicks Osman off the team because she worries about retaliation from gangs against the Fugees.
Shamsoun Dikori
Robin and Idwar’s older brother, who plays on the Under Seventeen Fugees. Shamsoun is also one of the Fugees who is accepted to college on a soccer scholarship.
Barlea
Kanue’s uncle who works two shifts at the airport to keep himself and his nephew afloat. He is usually only home for a few hours in the afternoon, and thus Kanue is expected to cook and keep house.
Eldin Subasic
A Bosnian player on the Under Thirteen Fugees. Eldin is Qendrim’s best friend. He often plays goalie along with Mafoday.
Tracy Ediger
A woman Luma hires to serve as a team manager for the Fugees. Tracy drives the Fugees’ bus and also helps with the tutoring program.
Mafoday Jawneh
A heavyset Gambian player on the Under Thirteen Fugees. Mafoday plays goalie along with Eldin.
Mohammed Mohammed
An Iraqi player on the Under Thirteens who just arrived in the United States and speaks very little English.
Muamer
A Bosnian player who joins the Under Fifteen Fugees after the team has been dissolved and revived. He plays right forward.
Peshawa Hamid
A star player on the Under Seventeens Fugees. Peshawa is Iraqi and competes for Luma’s attention with Darlington.
Josiah Saydee
A Liberian star left forward for the Under Thirteen Fugees.
Xhalal Bushi
Qendrim’s father who fled Kosovo with his family.
Alyah
Generose’s infant daughter and Alex, Bien, and Ive’s little sister.
Sebajden
A midfielder on the Under Fifteens team who is from Kosovo.
Hassan al-Mufleh
Luma’s father.
Munawar
Luma’s maternal grandmother.
Paula Balegamire
Grace’s mother.
