Homeless World Cup

At the heart of The Homeless World Cup is an annual street soccer (football) tournament uniting teams of homeless people around the world - many of whom sell newspapers on the streets of their own countries to try to make ends meet. Football is meant to serve as an international language. In the words of Mel Young, co-founder of the Homeless World Cup, the yearly sporting event is "dynamic, involves courage and inspiration, with a huge message to deliver to the world." Maria Bobenrieth, Corporate Responsibility Director for Nike Europe, Middle East and Africa, adds: "The ability of sport, in particular football, to cross boundaries, inspire and to foster social cohesion is unparalleled." As a testament to this claim, the 2006 competition, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from September 21-30, featured 300 games involving players from 48 countries, which were facilitated by 270 volunteers and which were covered by 250 members of the international media.

Engaging homeless persons in athletic participation is thought to be a means for raising awareness about their experiences, for generating a sense of community strength, and for fostering a new social impact for a marginalised group. In short, sport - shared with spectators through mass media - is a tool for rekindling the feeling of belonging, the challenge of working in a team, the process of regaining a health-oriented attitude towards life, and the recreation of self-esteem. Each country puts the word out on the street to invite people to try out for the national team - for example, through advertisements in street papers, or through posters and notice boards in hostels and housing organisations. Players attend national trials, where they are provided with coaching and training; based on the level of commitment they demonstrate, some of them are then selected to represent their country as part of the final team. "The aim is to get you to participate [only] once in the tournament," event spokesperson Anna-Lisa Schuster told the French weekly paper Nouvel Observateur. To that end, players can participate in a maximum of 2 Homeless World Cups; there is the option to remain involved by applying to take on an assistant coaching role when available. As in the real World Cup, national anthems are played before the matches, intended to be an emotional moment for the players. "They are really proud to represent their country in another country. In their own country they generally don't have any respect. When they are in the streets selling newspapers, they're nothing". Despite the framework of competition, becoming the "winner" is not meant to be the sole motivation; there is a team award for fair play.

Amongst the country-to-country competition (and media/audience attention) that the yearly event brings, a key strategy is sharing the stories of individual athletes online. For example, the Homeless World Cup website details experiences like that of Rory Levine, survivor of the September 11 2001 USA terrorist attacks - and the way in which he used sport for healing and communication about conflict. Another strategy for carrying the event beyond the weekly in-person gathering is the follow-up grassroots football programmes that will be established in over 60 nations (through a grant from the Vodafone Foundation).

In 2008, organisers expanded the initiative to include a "Women's Cup" for the first time. Eight nations and 80 women will compete at Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup; in previous competitions women made up approximately 10% of the players. The Women's Homeless World Cup aims to use football to energise women who are currently homeless to create the opportunity to change their own lives. It looks to counter the effects of homelessness, to encourage the development of community female leadership, and to increase the capacity for income generation through the creation of social projects. In addition to the football tournament, the women will participate in a workshop programme including football coaching, leadership development, and an opportunity for teams to showcase their idea to empower homeless women through sport, which carries a 5,000 Euro award from the nonprofit organisation Women Win. As the partnership with this organisation grows, Homeless World Cup will also look for opportunity to create social enterprises that contribute to sustainable change for women and girls and their communities: "[W]e would like to see it grow, involve many more nations, and see the women participating become change-makers, ambassadors and inspirations within their communities."

Poverty, Homelessness.

It was in Cape Town, at the end of the 2001 International Network of Street Papers (INSP) conference, that Austrian-born Harald Schmied and Mel Young first came up with the idea of the Homeless World Cup. Young is president of INSP, an organisation that  unites the publishers of street papers sold by homeless people and those living in poverty all over the world; he is also co-founder of The Big Issue Scotland. Homeless people from 18 countries took part in the first event (July 2003), with the 109 matches watched by over 20,000 spectators and covered by 90 accredited journalists and 25 television stations.

In an interview granted to BBC Sport, Mel Young responded to the question "Do you feel this tournament has changed the publics' perspective on homeless people?" as follows: "I do, I think it just changes everybody. The homeless people involved change because they find inspiration, self-respect, and self-esteem from the crowd applauding them. The public also change, as they usually have a stereotypical view of what a homeless person is e.g. lives on the street, is dangerous etc."

Organisers state that The Homeless World Cup message has reached the grassroots level in participating countries: About 50% of all participating countries organise or develop national street soccer leagues for social inclusion. Research after the Copenhagen 2007 Homeless World Cup demonstrated the following impacts amongst 381 players revisited 6 months after the event: 93% of players have a new motivation for life, 83% have improved social relations, 71% have significantly changed their life, 29% found employment, 38% improved their housing situation, 32% went into education, 118 players addressed a drug or alcohol dependency, and 71% now play football on a regular basis.