Former players turned referees to officiate mixed Homeless World Cup final
When the teams take the pitch for the men’s 2025 Homeless World Cup final, they’ll be making history with either Egypt or a mixed Portugal set to win the Homeless World Cup for the first time. The referee team officiating the event will also be making history as the first ever officiating team comprising all former players turned referees.
2012 Canada player turned referee Ed Kiwanuka will be whistling the men’s final, supported by 2013 Norwegian player turned referee Adil Leite, 2015 Indonesian player Jaka Arisandy, and 2014 Norway player Annette Veronica Høivaag Loftus. Marianne Olsen, Isha Silare, Natalie Handley, and Dina Kagen will officiate the women’s Homeless World Cup final.
“What a long way we’ve come,” Kiwanuka observed earlier in the week. It’s not just the current players who are aware of their tournament trajectory.
Kiwanuka’s arc is almost vertical in ways even he almost can’t believe. He came to street soccer at the urging of a social worker while he was staying at a hostel, traumatised from experiences in his country of birth and unsure he wanted to live. He went on to represent his new home country Canada at the 2012 Homeless World Cup in Mexico and to return as a referee in 2018 at the urging and of Australian referee Hary Milas.
Kiwanuka is now the programme director and one of the key stewards of the newly reinvigorated Canadian Street Soccer Association, which has seen Canada return to the competition for the first time since 2015. Now, Kiwanuka will guide three peers, all former players, through the high-stakes mixed final for the 2025 Homeless World Cup.
Leite, Arisandy, and Loftus have similar trajectories, having gone on to complete referee training after they finished their Homeless World Cup playing experience. Leite and Arisandy weren’t initially confident refereeing was for them, but have since come to love it. Like Kiwanuka, they bring empathy and insight to the role as former players.
Loftus, like Kiwanuka, came to refereeing under the tutelage of Milas, who passed away in 2022—Loftus still has the Whistle of Hope Milas bequeathed to her. (The Whistle of Hope is a physical whistle referees gift to players who demonstrate outstanding respect and fair play.) Almost 10 years on from her Homeless World Cup playing debut, she’s refereeing on home soil.
Kiwanuka, Leite, Arisandy, and Loftus took the referees’ oath at the beginning of the tournament, swearing to officiate this Homeless World Cup with complete impartiality, in the spirit of fair play, and with respect and adherence to the rules of the tournament.
The history-making four will take to the pitch for the final alongside history-making Egypt and Portugal at 6pm on Saturday 30 May.
Written By Fiona Crawford, Photos By Anita Milas & Angelica Ibarra Rodriquez