The Homeless World Cup

The Big Issue in the North together with a number of Premier league and Football League Clubs organise and selects the England team that travels to compete in the annual Homeless World Cup competition.

The next competition takes place in Rio de Janeiro in September 2010. The Homeless World Cup is a competition that aims to use the power of football for the purposes of social inclusion, to highlight the issue of homelessness and to transform people`s lives around the world.

The process of selection begins in January 2010 with regional open trials across various venues in England. These are followed by monthly sessions until approximately July 2010 when the squad will be selected.

Players must be or must have been homeless or vulnerably accommodated at some point after the 1st of September 2009, or are in rehabilitation and have been homeless at some point since 1st October 2009 or are asylum seekers currently without positive asylum status or who were previously asylum seekers but obtained residency status after 1st September 2009.

Players can be male or female and need to be at least 16 years of age on the 1st of September 2009 and have not taken part in previous Homeless World Cup tournaments.

For more information and to register to take part please contact Richard Brown at hwc@bigissueinthenorth.com or download an application form from www.thebigissueinthenorth.com