This World Cup is their home

Every four years, the FIFA World Cup brings together the world even as countries find themselves locked in fierce competition. But if the World Cup brings together the stars, the glamour and the fans, away from the spotlight another World Cup brings together the disadvantaged from every corner of the world.
Statistics reveal that one of every six persons in the world is homeless.India has one of the largest homeless populations in the world. In fact, it is estimated that by 2015, Mumbai will be the largest homeless city in the world with a homeless population of 27.4 million people.
The World Cup for the homeless - born as an offshoot of FIFA’s four-yearly multi-million dollar extravaganza - uses the game as a trigger to inspire and energize homeless people to change their lives. Now in its eighth year, the inaugural Cup was held in 2003 at Graz, Austria. This year it will be held at the Brazilian capital - Rio de Janerio - which is also the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The inaugural Cup played host to 14 teams. This time the number has gone up to 64.
Till 2008, men and women played in the same team. However, in 2008, a women’s version of the cup was also started and saw 16 women’s football teams participating. The 2010 Cup that will be held in Copacabana Beach in Rio from September 19-26 will see seven Asian teams participating: Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and India.
The Indian team qualifying for the regular World Cup may be a distant dream but at the World Cup for the Homeless played each year, India not only participates regularly, it even has a respectable rating.
Many of those who have participated in the homeless cup have gone on to become players and coaches themselves, for pro or semipro football teams.
And as the founder president of the event, Mel Young says, "The Homeless World Cup is an opportunity for homeless people to move from the margins to the centre of a city to take global stage, where they represent their country, stand proud and are cheered by thousands... Football has the power to change the world."
With its headquarters in Edinburgh, this initiative works in partnership with national grassroots projects that work with homeless people the year round.
The movement has led to the establishment of over 50 grassroots projects in their respective countries. These projects organize regular training programmes and annual trial tournaments to elect the team to represent the nation.
In 2001 the Krida Vikas Sanstha Nagpur (KVSN), founded by Professor Vijay Barse, set up a street soccer programme to provide sports facilities and ensure young homeless, slum people did not succumb to the lure of drugs. Over 10,000 youths have been involved in sports competitions since then.
India debuted at the Homeless World Cup in 2007 and reached a top ranking of 39th in the world in both 2008 and 2009. Currently they are ranked 43rd.
Help and sponsorship for the Indian wing has come from English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Last year, they announced a partnership with KVSN where they sponsored the Indian team during the Milan event and also became a partner in their Slum Soccer programme.
The club’s executive director Paul Barber had hoped this partnership "will benefit some of the most underprivileged people in India." It certainly seems to have done so - the dramatic decrease in addiction to drugs or alcohol and petty crimes has led KVSN to expand its slum soccer programme to over 15 Indian cities.
The event may not make news but it has inspired a slew of films across the world, the most notable being the 2008 documentary Kicking It that drew rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival and Tribeca Film festival in 2008.
The film, narrated by Hollywood star Colin Farrell, follows the lives of seven homeless people from seven countries, as they prepare for the 2006 Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. It vividly - and movingly - documents how homeless people, struggling with problems of survival and addiction, find a new meaning to their lives through football.
Streetball is another film that documented the South African team’s journey to the 2008 Melbourne version of the Homeless World Cup.