Mexico Joins Homeless World Cup Kick-Off in Chile NTD.tv
go to original October 20, 2014

Homeless World Cup kicks-off with a feast of football (HomelessWorldCup)

International teams gathered in Santiago de Chile on Sunday for the opening day of the 12th annual Homeless World Cup where 54 teams from 42 countries come together to play shortened matches of two 7-minute halves.

The Homeless World Cup seeks to use soccer as a tool with which to engage with the world's homeless, and encourage young homeless people to get an education, improve relationships with their families and introduce them to agencies which may provide employment and housing.

Futbol Calle's Executive Director Rodrigo Izquierdo said the organization has widened its outreach for greater impact.

"The Homeless World Cup works with people with different social issues throughout the world. For example, in Chile, we began by working with people on the streets and later, we widened the program to people in vulnerable situations and at social risk so that we could reach the greatest number of people," he said.

The opening men's match saw hosts Chile beat neighbouring Argentina; the women's opening match will see the hosts play Brazil. The reigning men's world champions are Brazil and the women's are Mexico.

The first Homeless World Cup was held in 2003 in Graz, and has been played every year since then. Last year's Homeless World Cup was hosted by Poznan, Poland.

The final game of the tournament will be played on October 26.

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