The Homeless World Cup is an annual association football tournament organized by the Homeless World Cup Foundation, a social organization which advocates the end of homelessness through the sport of association football. The organization puts together an annual football tournament where teams of homeless people from various country compete. The tournament was first held in 2001, and in 2008 it added a women's competition. From 2010 onwards, all tournaments have featured both men's and women's teams. History The Homeless World Cup organization was co-founded by Mel Young and Harald Schmied in 2001 to advocate for a global solution to homelessness. The first annual football tournament for homeless people took place in 2003 in Graz, Austria. Host cities since then have included Gothenburg, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Melbourne, Milan, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Mexico City, Poznań, Santiago, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Oslo and Mexico City. Most recently, the 2019 edition was hosted by Wales in Bute Park, Cardiff, with Michael Sheen opening the tournament. The 2020 tournament had been due to take place in Tampere, Finland, but was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The international headquarters of the Homeless World Cup is located at Easter Road Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. National partners The Homeless World Cup organization operates through a network of more than 70 national partners around the world, supporting football programs and social enterprise development. |} Format Fields Since 2015 the tournament has been played on synthetic turf fields from Act Global. Rules Player eligibility Players must meet all of the following criteria: Be at least 16 years old at the time of the tournament Have not taken part in previous Homeless World Cup tournaments Also, must be any of the following: Have been homeless at some point after the previous year's tournament in accordance with the national definition of homelessness Make their main living income as a streetpaper vendor Be asylum seekers currently without positive asylum status or who were previously asylum seekers but obtained residency status a year before the event Currently be in drug or alcohol rehabilitation and also have been homeless at some point in the past two years Participants A maximum of 4 players per team on the court: 3 outfield players, 1 goalkeeper, Plus 4 substitution players (rolling substitution allowed) Tournament details The winning team gets 3 points. The losing team gets zero points. If a match ends in a draw, it