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The first Homeless World Cup Day will make up for the cancelled tournament

Organisers are inviting supporters to join them in the Virtual Stadium on July 5 to celebrate the vital work they do to help homeless people through football across the globe

Homeless World Cup

Coronavirus may have blown the final whistle on the Homeless World Cup tournament this year but organisers are keen to play on with the first-ever Homeless World Cup Day taking place on July 5.

Teams would have been due to play in the latter stages of the tournament at Tampere’s Ratina Stadium on that date until the annual street football bash was called off last month.

It was a blow to more than 500 players who were looking to play in Finland and co-founder Mel Young said that “the commitment to using football as a way of tackling homelessness remains one hundred per cent” as he announced the postponement.

Today the team behind the Homeless World Cup revealed their next step: now July 5 will be devoted to celebrating how they use the power of football to inspire and change lives.

The Homeless World Cup Day will shine a light on how the street football programmes across the globe deliver their life-changing programmes all-year-round.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

They’ll be sharing stories and setting fun challenges for fans who join their Virtual Stadium for free on the Homeless World Cup website – it’s a chance to take a virtual seat at one of the world’s best football events.

Meanwhile, Big Issue Changemaker David Duke isn’t waiting until July to show how his Street Soccer Scotland outfit – the social enterprise behind the Scotland Homeless World Cup team – are coping with players off the pitch and in self-isolation.

SSS have switched their motto to ‘Positive Change WITHOUT Football” for the time being, supporting people they help with meals and supplies for both them and their pets, live fitness sessions over Zoom, giving out smartphones to help players stay connected and even running online recovery sessions.

Writing in his latest update, Duke said: “In the past three weeks our team’s response to Covid-19 has been exceptional, putting players (as always) are the heart of their decision making and actions. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Image: Anita Miles

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