Evgeniy, Ukraine 2004
Evgeniy Adamenko won the "Golden Shoe" award for top scorer at the
Gothenburg 2004 Homeless World Cup. He scored an amazing 53 goals in the tournament.
"The Homeless World Cup is one of the most brightest events in my life. It made me change the course of my life completely and to define the goals in my life and find new ways to achieve what I want. To win the 'Golden Shoe' Trophy was a real victory for me, maybe the most important, but not the last one."
At 20 years old Evgeniy Adamenko found himself in a crisis familiar
to many young people in Ukraine. No job, nowhere to go, no vision for
his life. He lived in permanent conflict with his family, stayed
at friend's flats, started to sleep rough in the streets of Odessa and
became a vendor of the Ukrainian streetpaper “The way home.”
Evgeniy notes that participation in the Homeless World Cup
helped him to break the circle of self-isolation he had been living in
for years. It gave him a sense of participation in something great,
something global. This inspired the faith that life is full of chances
and he can take the opportunities. It raised his self-esteem and brought back respect from his family and
friends.
Nowadays Evgeniy is a young man full of energy and motivation to move further in his life. He has started to live at home again. He aims to become a University
graduate and studies at the National University Kiev. And the Gothenburg 2004 Homeless World Cup inspired him to become a member of a professional football team
in the Ukrainian regional league.
