The Homeless World Cup – A Remarkable Occassion

On August 11, sixty-four teams will begin their Homeless World Cup campaign in Poznan, Poland.  For many of them, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and for others, it is the start of a career in football.  The week long tournament includes players from every corner of the globe representing their countries in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

The project was founded by Mel Young and Harald Schmied at a conference in Cape Town in 2001, and just two years later, the first Homeless World Cup was held in Graz, Austria.  This annual tournament is aimed to raise awareness about the topic and ‘to change people’s attitudes to homelessness’.

The winners of last years tournament was Chile, while Mexico came out on top in the women’s tournament, and both teams will look to retain their trophies.  Mexico are currently top of the men’s rankings, while holders Chile lie in third.

It is a four-a-side tournament, played under seven-minute halves and the sixty-four teams are split into eight groups of eight.

Emmanuel Petit, the former France international, is the Ambassador for the Homeless World Cup, and recently said that he is delighted to be involved in the growing project.  He recently released a video wishing the players luck with the coming tournament, and hopes that more and more people will become a part of future tournaments, on and off the pitch.

This tournament is an ideal opportunity to showcase the fantastic projects that go on around the world that help people combat homelessness, and to raise more awareness for the problem that is present in every country around the world.

Teams competing in this years Homeless World Cup:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA, Wales.

Jack Nithavrianakis