Peter, Germany 2003 & 2004

"Striking the first goal for Germany meant heaven on earth for a few seconds to me."

Peter Skrabut from Regensburg, played for Germany in both 2003 and 2004. His life changed significantly after that. He travelled to the Edinburgh 2005 Homeless World Cup as assistant coach for the German team.

“Since 2001 I've worked as a streetpaper-vendor for 'Donaustrudl' in Regensburg, later I started working for a project named “bookrecycling” that is run by the same organization. Here we sold books that were donated to us at markets. The aim was to finance jobs for homeless and unemployed people. At a conference of the German Association of streetpapers, attended by INSP president Mel Young, I started playing football again.

When the first Homeless Worldcup in Graz took place I was a member of the German team. Striking the first goal for Germany meant heaven on earth for a few seconds to me. In Gothenburg, one year later I played as goalkeeper and I felt that the feedback on our team was even better.

Following the second Homeless World Cup tournament my life changed quite significantly. I started my own library business and I attend evening classes in order to achieve a high-school-degree. Hopefully I will start studying psychology at university afterwards. I´m very optimistic that I will not fall back into the habit of smoking cigarettes.

The nomination to accompany the German Team to the Edinburgh 2005 Homeless World Cup as assistant team manager makes me very proud. I'll certainly try and help the players who follow me to succeed in the tournament as well as in their future lives. Let's end homelessness."