Our flagship tournament, The Homeless World Cup, is at the heart of everything we do. Since it was established in 2003, we have welcomed players from more than 80 countries to play on a global stage.
Meet our players
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Impact of the Tournament
By taking part in the tournament, players are given the opportunity to travel, often leaving their countries for the first time. They also become part of a global community of players who have faced similar challenges.
The tournament is designed to be competitive, but its special structure and emphasis on fair play mean that everyone plays until the last day. There are several levels of competition and trophies to win, providing a sense of achievement for teams of all skill levels.
A survey conducted with players during the Homeless World Cup found:
94%
Say the Homeless World Cup positively impacted their lives
83%
Improved social relations with family and friends
77%
Changed lives significantly because of their involvement in football
71%
Continue to play football
While the format of the event and game remains the same, every Homeless World Cup is unique.
Member Strengthening
We work to help our Member Countries improve on the work they do and positively impact the lives of even more people around the globe.
Some of our projects are aimed at the development and improvement of football programmes across the world, while others focus on developing the skills of those participating in such projects.
Football to Protect Vulnerable Women from Exploitation
A partnership over two years (January 2024 - December 2025) between the Homeless World Cup Foundation, the FIFA Foundation and four African Homeless World Cup Member Countries as the implementing partners:
Kenya - Vijana Amani Pamoja (VAP)
Tanzania - Future Stars Academy (FSA)
Zambia - Bauleni United Sports Academy (BUSA)
Zimbabwe - Young Achievement Sports for Development (YASD)
The project will use the power of football to identify vulnerable women, engage them in safe football activities and to guide and support them to safe and productive alternatives to exploitation.
International Partners Sharing Skills (iPass)
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The Homeless World Cup Foundation was awarded a 3-year grant from the European Commission via the Erasmus+ programme for education, training, youth, and sport. The project was managed by the Homeless World Cup Foundation in collaboration with 21 of our European partners. It took place from 2016-2018 to develop cooperation between Homeless World Cup Street Football Partners in Europe. -
Get-togethers, exchanges and Street Football festivals brought European partners together to share skills, experience, and knowledge in order to grow the capacity of each partner and strengthen the network in its mission to change the lives of homeless people through football.Each year of the programme consisted of one European Get-together, three European Exchanges and one European Street Football Festival. Participating partners took turns in hosting some of the different events.
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Our aim through this project was to improve the capacity of our existing partners in Europe – and around the world – by helping them share their specialist knowledge.The 21 partners who collaborated in this project all have different skills, knowledge and experience. Some are very strong and stable, others new and still developing. By facilitating inter-partner learning and sharing opportunities, a collective knowledge was developed.
Partners built rapport and stronger relationships with one another, which encouraged continued learning, sharing, and networking long after the funding for this project ceased.
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These were informal conferences for delegates from all 21 Erasmus+ programme partners. They were an important opportunity for partner representatives to exchange and share knowledge, as well as make strategic decisions on the direction of the Erasmus+ project.
• Sofia 2016• Helsinki 2017
• Ljubljana 2018
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During the exchanges, one partner hosted representatives from three other participating programmes to exchange knowledge and skills around certain geographically relevant topics and development themes in relation to tackling homelessness through football. The Erasmus+ programme included three European Exchanges per year – a total of nine exchanges by the end of the programme.
• Beja 2016• Gothenburg 2016
• Utrecht 2016
• Moss 2017
• Cardiff 2017
• Athens 2017
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This was a larger event that gathered all participating countries together. The four-day event consisted of player development workshops over two days, and a two-day street football tournament. The Erasmus+ programme included three festivals, one for each year of the tournament.
• Manchester 2016• Sofia 2017
• Graz 2018
International Referee Programme
Over many years and international tournaments, the Homeless World Cup has gathered a dedicated group of international referees. Every year, they volunteer their time and skills. Some are professional FIFA referees in their own countries, while others are street football referees for various events.
Inspired by our Homeless World Cup Partner in Switzerland, Surprise Strassenfussball, that has trained their players to become referees for local events, the Homeless World Cup Foundation started to deliver an international referee programme on a similar level.
Paul Nagtegaal, who is based in the Netherlands and part of our core team of international referees, developed a curriculum for international street football referees. Through the programme we train local referees, former Homeless World Cup players and partner’s participants to become official Homeless World Cup Referees.
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Our international referee programme is aimed at former players from our Global Network as well as local referees in countries hosting the Homeless World Cup tournament.Many players who take part in one of our partners’ programmes want to stay involved with street soccer, especially after having played at the Homeless World Cup. An opportunity is for them to train as a Homeless World Cup official referee and whistle at one of our events.
Many of our partners on the ground use local referees at their own national and regional tournaments. They can come from professional leagues, clubs or neighbour countries. We want to train all referees to the same standard and become international Homeless World Cup referees.
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The course is divided into three parts: theory, practice and advanced practice. The theory takes place in a classroom set-up or online and includes:
• Learning Homeless World Cup official rules• Understanding what a good referee is
• Getting feedback on their behaviour on the pitch
The practice component takes place on the pitch. Participants take part in games and refereeing situations where they can put what they have learnt in the classroom into action.Finally, participants are given the chance to referee at a real tournament.
Upon completion of the course students are awarded their official Homeless World Cup International Refereeing Programme Certificates.
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Changing Perceptions
90%
have a more positive attitude towards homeless people as a result of attending the event
62%
felt the event made them more aware of the issue of homelessness
83%
of spectators were proud their city was hosting the event
Statistics from a survey conducted with spectators at the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff in 2019.
One of our main goals at The Homeless World Cup is to challenge and ultimately change people’s perceptions of homelessness and the issues that surround it.
By showing the human side of homelessness, we aim to help breakdown stereotypes and change the ways in which we think and talk about homelessness.
One of the main ways we do this is through the tournament itself.
Research by La Trobe University showed that the Homeless World Cup significantly improves spectator’s attitudes towards people who are homeless.
Attending the Homeless World Cup and being exposed to the inspiring stories of the remarkable participants can change people’s perceptions of individuals experiencing homelessness.
However, you don’t have to attend the event to find out players stories, we have an extensive archive of inspiring player stories online.
We want to break down the stigma and shame surrounding homelessness and celebrate the journeys our players have gone on. They show that, however impossible it may seem, with the right support there can be a way out of homelessness.
With our More Than A Game and Beyond the Stadium articles, we highlight the work of our partners and explore the local issues which are causing homelessness in their communities using their experience on the ground.
You can also read our Global Homelessness Statistics from our different member countries and explore the different issues which are internationally causing homelessness.
