FIVE hundred players, 48 countries, one goal: ending homelessness.
The Homeless World Cup is the best world cup you’ve never heard of – unless you’ve watched The Beautiful Game starring Bill Nighy on Netflix, that is. This year, the idyllic backdrop of Rådhusplassen, Oslo, hosted the most joyous celebration of football and life. In its 20th edition, the tournament is bigger and better than ever.
Scotland has long claimed to have invented the passing game and modern football. Fewer people know we also invented the Homeless World Cup. The idea was born in 2001 at the International Street Papers annual conference in Cape Town, when Edinburgh’s Mel Young MBE and Austria’s Harald Schmied reflected that no homeless people had been invited to take part. Over a drink at the pub, they imagined a tournament where those with lived experience of homelessness could represent their country on the pitch.
“We said there is an international language called football,” recalls Young. “Over a pint of beer, we shook hands and said there’s going to be a game between Scotland and Austria.
“By the end of the evening, we’d invented the Homeless World Cup – where not just Scotland and Austria were playing, lots of countries were playing.”
Over the next year, Young and Schmied sketched out the rules. Matches would be just seven minutes each way, played on a small pitch in the heart of a city. The result was a game that is fast, thrilling and accessible, and football – the Homeless World Cup way – was invented.
“I’ve seen teams being three goals down with 30 seconds to go score four goals,” says Young.
“No matter what team you’re supporting, the crowd is on its feet because it’s so fast and exciting. It’s football at its best.”
It is football with a purpose. Since the first tournament in 2003, the Homeless World Cup has helped more than 1.5 million people worldwide. Players are drawn from marginalised backgrounds: those who have experienced homelessness, addiction, trauma or social exclusion, as well as refugees and asylum seekers. Each national squad is chosen by a partner organisation that works with vulnerable communities in its respective nation.
“Ideally, our goal is not to exist because there shouldn’t be any homelessness in the world,” says Young, who is now president of the organisation.
“More and more countries want to be involved. More cities are wanting to host it, and it’s becoming very competitive just now, so we want to be bigger and better in terms of our quality in delivering everything. We want to change more lives.”
Just across the tram tracks at Rådhusplassen is the Nobel Peace Centre where the Cities Ending Homelessness Forum is taking place in conjunction with the tournament. The forum’s aim is to bring together policymakers, social innovators, those with lived experience and academics from various sectors to discuss how to end homelessness. For Young, this is vital: “The challenge is, as soon as we move some of the guys on, and a lot of them are changing their lives, that someone comes to take their place.
“We want to get to a situation in the world where people stop being homeless. We will engage with governments and anybody who wants to talk to us about how we can create policies to stop it happening.”
It’s fitting that the idea of the Homeless World Cup was born in Cape Town, such is the joy that South Africa has brought to the tournament. South Africa’s fans and players have filled the square with song and dance, with their joy spreading through the crowd.
At one point, during a rare moment of calm between matches, a small South African choir broke out in song in the stands. In unison, the South African team danced their way towards Pitch One to the beat of their homeland. It was clear just how much this match – against the hosts, Norway, no less – and this tournament meant to the players: another chance at a life that they might not otherwise have had.
For Scotland and England, the national partner is Street Soccer – a charity which runs inclusive, trauma-informed football sessions across Scotland and London to create lasting, positive change for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Scotland are two-time winners, having triumphed in Copenhagen in 2007 and in Paris in 2011. This year, the Scotland’s men’s squad – coached by Jack Martin and former Scotland international Derek Ferguson – impressed in Oslo, reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 2011.
Since a battling 9-4 victory over Hong Kong on the opening day, the side played fantastic football underpinned by good old Scottish grit and determination.
The squad includes Haitham Osman, William Milne, Paul Hulley, Yusuf Bernawi, Mo Eldekhil, Mo Diop Niang, Ali Tamimi and Ali Alshameri.
At Hampden early this month, during the squad announcement, the bond between them was obvious. The youthful exuberance of the younger members is balanced by the guidance of older heads William and Paul.
From his penalty box, Paul emanates calmness and provides security at the back for the young guns to wreak havoc in attack. William, now in the twilight of his 20s, leads from the front both on and off the pitch with his drive and determination. Their impact on the squad is as evident as their friendship, which is, perhaps, strengthened by their similar journey to the Homeless World Cup.
“I was in a treatment centre at Christmas time there and came out at the end of January,” says William. “I started coming in and playing with the boys, which was something a wee bit different, and then people started to believe in you and in your ability.”
He adds: “They’re there for you, you can go and tell them how you feel even if it’s outside of football and now, we’re getting the opportunity to do this, so they believe in us, so we need to believe in ourselves.”
And believe they did. Scotland reached the quarter finals, where they faced the singing South Africans. In a topsy-turvy match that saw the Scots lead 7-6 with two minutes left on the clock, Scotland were finally beaten 9-7. No disgrace at all as the South Africans will have ambitions of lifting the trophy having lit up the tournament until now.
The Scotland boys should take immense pride in their efforts – they embraced the tournament from the very start and wore their hearts on their sleeves on the pitches at Rådhusplassen.
So, while they fell short of lifting the trophy for the first time in 14 years, the real prize is clear: the Homeless World Cup is a tournament that proves football can change lives.
