Street Soccer Scotland are the official team partner for Team Scotland, giving players experiencing homelessness and social exclusion the opportunity to represent Scotland at competitions from the Homeless World Cup Foundation.
The Homeless World Cup is a global annual event, with both men’s and women’s competitions taking place in an elected host nation. Previous tournaments have taken place in iconic locations such as Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, under the Eiffel Tower in Paris as well as other major cities like Melbourne, Amsterdam and Mexico City.
The format for the tournament is four-a-side games lasting 14 minutes each. There is a group stage and knockouts with massive crowds packed around small-sided artificial pitches.
Over 50 nations are represented at each tournament, with over 500 players taking part. Of those participating:
Street Soccer Scotland were delighted to see the return of the Homeless World Cup in July of this year.
The tournament at Sacramento State University saw Team Scotland enjoy a successful tournament with games against the likes of Brazil, Norway, Hungary, Sweden, Wales and Austria.
Players were chosen from across Street Soccer programmes, with seven players proudly selected to travel to California. Read more about our squad and their announcement, here.
Both our men and women had the chance to represent their country this summer. Team Scotland women’s squad were part of the Street Soccer Nations Cup in Largs.
The weekend at Largs Thistle FC’s Barrfields Park in August saw eight teams from six nations compete for the Nations Cup, you can learn more about it here.
As Scotland’s other National Team, we couldn’t attend the Homeless World Cup without the incredible support of our supporters and sponsors.
We are extremely grateful for the support from this year’s shirt sponsors. The Burness Paull Foundation will feature on the front of the shirt, with The Malcolm Group on the back. Rhino Express will be visible on the sleeve of the men’s shirt. The generosity of these partners is of extreme value to Street Soccer and we look forward to having them on this continued journey with us.
To find out more about how you can support programme such as these, hit the link below.
Due to the strict nature surrounding the USA’s visa requirements for entry, Street Soccer were limited in its selection for a women’s team. We will be providing an opportunity for players who are part of our women’s only programmes to represent Team Scotland later in the year at the Street Soccer Nations Cup.
The rules for the Homeless World Cup can be found here.
On average 48 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams are invited to the tournament.
The Homeless World Cup is an inclusive tournament; anyone who identifies as a woman or as a man can play in their chosen competition as long as their country member is fielding a team.
The Homeless World Cup tournament structure is based on Rugby Sevens, with three stages of competition and several different trophies to win on finals day.
First Stage
After the draw, each team plays all of the other teams in their group once. Their relative position in the preliminary group determines the group they will play in during the Second Stage.
Second Stage
Each team plays each other team in its Group once in a round robin format. Once all the Group games have been completed, the teams’ final position determines the last Stage of the competition. Teams than finish first or second within their group advance to play for the Homeless World Cup (men’s/mixed) or Women’s Homeless World Cup (women’s). Those who finish in third and fourth place in their group compete for the next highest trophy, and so on.
Trophy Stage
Eight teams compete for each trophy, with each competition now following the standard form of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. This includes placing games for all teams. All teams play three games in the Trophy Stage.
The structure of the tournament ensures that each team plays matches until the final day of competition. The standard of football varies considerably across teams, and as the tournament progresses, teams become more evenly matched in terms of skill which provides a rewarding experience for players and audience alike.
