Mexico - The 10th Homeless World Cup will take place in Mexico City from 6-14 October. Its global partners are NIKE, Fundación Telmex and UEFA.The draw for the Homeless World Cup 2012 has set up a number of classic encounters
when the action kicks off on Saturday, October 6th in Mexico City.
For Mexico fans, the highlight of the draw was to see their men's team drawn in Group A
with South Africa, Denmark, Croatia, Canada and Haiti. Group E also promises a lot of
excitement, with Russia, England, France and Germany drawn together, while Group H
includes Brazil, the Netherlands and Ghana.
Also in the men's tournament, holders Scotland start their bid to retain the trophy they won
last year in Paris when they take on Lithuania, Indonesia, Greece, India and Peru in Group
D.
In the Women's Homeless World Cup, favourites Mexico were grouped with their
neighbours the United States, Colombia, the Netherlands, Chile, Hungary and Paraguay,
while in Group Two, Brazil will play against England, Argentina, India, Canada, Nigeria and
Kyrgyzstan.
“This is the 10th Homeless World Cup,” said Mel Young, President and Co-Founder of the
Homeless World Cup, “and our Mexican hosts are doing a great job to make this a special
tournament. Like us, the Local Organising Committee understand the power of sport to
change lives, and we're all looking forward to a magnificent tournament here in Mexico
City, where hundreds of players from over 50 countries will be meeting to highlight the
problems of homelessness and take courageous steps towards improving their lives.
”This is the first time we have held the draw so far in advance of the tournament but we
are always looking for new ways to be innovative, not only when it comes to the
tournament but also how we work as a team with our national partners, to help the poorest
of the poor and tackle homelessness."
Morocco will make history by attending its first ever Homeless World Cup kicking off in October this year. In the tournaments' 10 year history, Morocco has never been represented. The Morocco Street Football Association will change this on the 6th October 2012 by taking a team of women and a team of men experiencing homelessness and disadvantage to Mexico City where they will represent their country on a global stage.
Group Stages
A total of 62 teams will take part, with 48 nations in the men's tournament and 14 nations
in the women's event. In the Preliminary Group stages, the men's teams will be divided
into eight Groups of six teams, and in the women's tournament there will be two Groups of
seven teams. After the Group stage, teams will progress to the Secondary stage then the
Finals, based on their performance during the week. Every team will have the opportunity
to play throughout the week and compete for different trophies according to results. The
trophies for the men's event are the Homeless World Cup, the Dignitary Cup, the City Cup,
the Host Cup, the Community Cup and the INSP Cup.
The Homeless World Cup Foundation is a pioneering social enterprise set up to tackle homelessness – using the power of football to energise homeless people so they can change their own lives. It supports grass-roots football programmes and social enterprise development via a network of 73 national partners and celebrates its work by organising an annual football tournament that unites teams of homeless people from countries all around the globe.
The Homeless World Cup was founded by Mel Young from Scotland and Harald Schmied from Austria, who came up with the idea at a conference on homelessness, in Cape Town in 2001. They both believed that it was possible to “change the lives of homeless people through football” and two years later in 2003, the first Homeless World Cup tournament took place in Graz in Austria.
Today, the main role of the organisation is to coordinate the work of its 73 national partners by providing support and guidance in football and management skills, to help grow and develop sustainable programmes which have a positive impact on the lives of homeless and excluded people all around the world.
At the annual Homeless World Cup tournament, the national partners come together to demonstrate how football has the power to change people's lives. The tournament also celebrates the year-round work of the organisation and creates an opportunity for players to represent their country and meet and build relationships with homeless people from other countries. It also lights up the hearts and minds of everyone it touches and changes people's attitudes to homelessness – in all cities where the tournament is held, people who are homeless report improved relations with the public.
In the Women's Homeless World Cup, the teams will play in two Groups of seven, with the
top four teams progressing to the quarter finals and the other teams competing for the
Women's Homeless World Cup Plate.
The other trophies awarded include the Richard Ishmail Fair Play Trophy, Best Mixed
Team, Best Female Player, Best Male Player and Best Newcomer.
