Returning back to the tournament which changed her life
Niamh and daughter Ailbhe who spotted her mum on a poster (from the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup) being used at the tournament in Oslo
Gift a Seat This Christmas
This festive season, we’re celebrating the heart of the Homeless World Cup: the 500 players from the Oslo 2025 Homeless World Cup whose courage, resilience and joy in August of this year, continue to inspire us every single day.
From 13th December until the 24th December, we’re sharing The 12 Stories of Oslo 2025, a journey through uplifting, powerful accounts from the 20th edition of the Homeless World Cup which was held in Norway’s capital city this August.
meet niamh and aiLbhe
Niamh Ryan, captain of the Ireland Women’s team at the Seoul 2024 Homeless World returned to the tournament in August 2025, this time as a spectator in Oslo, one of the first sights she saw at the tournament was an at-scale image featuring her and her teammates’ post-match celebrations from the tournament last year in Korea’s capital city.
It was actually her daughter Ailbhe who first spotted the image. She’d brought Ailbhe, who is about to start school, to experience firsthand the tournament that helped mark the turning point in her move forward.
Niamh is one of several players who have returned to the tournament after playing for their country, building on their previous Homeless World Cup experience.
“I think I knew last year when… you know when you soak it all in, and it goes by so quick, I knew I wanted to be part of it again somehow,” Ryan explains.
“I knew that I wanted to try and make my way back over, and especially when I heard it was in Europe again and it was closer to home, that I’d be able to actually make the trip.”
As her mouse cursor hovered over the submit button to process the flight payment, she told herself to just commit and see what came of it. It turns out plenty did. First, she was able to catch up with friends she made from the previous year’s tournament who were in Oslo as staff and volunteers. She was also able to offer some insight to the new Irish Homeless World Cup players (you can only play once at the tournament), providing a steady support and, where needed, some well-timed advice.
“At the start, especially the Women’s team, they lost at the beginning, and they might have been a bit down, but it was nerves, you know. I kind of said to them, Last year, we played four or five matches on the trot and lost. It honestly doesn’t mean anything, because there’s different cups to compete for and things change so quickly.’ So just being able to give that little boost of confidence, saying, ‘Listen, let’s get over it now, just move on.’ And they’ve been amazing here in Oslo. They’ve just gone from strength to strength. Each match they played, they’ve been better than the last. It’s so exciting to watch.”
From strength to strength might also be a term applicable to her own experience. “After the Homeless World Cup last year in Seoul, things have really changed. I feel in a much better place, head space. I feel like the commitments that I put into the training for the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup, I was able to implement that into my own life and strive towards finding a home for myself and my daughter. It’s really helped me, and it’s helped my confidence a lot, too. I don’t shy away from things I used to… I’d never played football before. I threw myself into the whole experience and really enjoyed it. So now I kind of don’t shy away from things at home, or my own personal life, so it’s really helped me in that aspect.”
That looking forward, looking back element is why the Homeless World Cup represents a kind of touchstone. “I hope that this is a yearly thing now for me,” Niamh confirms. “I absolutely love it, and the fact I can make a little holiday out of it with my daughter, bring her with me… I’d absolutely love for her to experience this every year.’
Depending on timing, perhaps next year they might be able to experience the tournament in its entirety, the two were heading home partway through the 2025 tournament to enable Ailbhe to start school. Ailbhe was already figuring out how she could take a bit of the Homeless World Cup with her. She’d informed her Mum excitedly, “I’m going to tell everyone I was in Oslo.”
“She’s actually raging,” Niamh said, “She wanted to stay longer because every evening when we go back to hotel, she says, ‘Oh, mummy, this was the best day ever, wasn’t it? Wasn’t this the best day ever?’”
Gift a Seat This Christmas
Words by Fiona Crawford