The Homeless World Cup has the power to change people’s lives and FIFA’s support for the event means that it will have an even bigger impact before. Mel Young, the Homeless World Cup President, said that FIFA’s backing was a “very important step” for the tournament and would make participants feel part of the football world.

FIFA and the Homeless World Cup Foundation (HWCF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Paris, France, on 2 August 2024, to jointly broadcast the event on FIFA+, FIFA's streaming platform, while FIFA will also supply material and equipment, including medals and trophies. FIFA’s support will start at the next Homeless World Cup which will take place in Seoul, Korea Republic from 21 to 28 September 2024.

“It’s President Mel Young who I want to thank wholeheartedly for partnering up with FIFA and to congratulate him as well for having had this initiative more than 20 years ago to create the Homeless World Cup, to try to change society, to try to have an impact on the lives of people,” the FIFA President said.

“In 50 days’ time, men and women – homeless men and women – will play, of course, to win a medal, to win a World Cup title, but also to change their lives, to change the way people in the world perceive and see homeless people,” he added. “Many of the participants in Homeless World Cups in the past, and definitely also now and in the future, managed to change their lives: to find a home, to find a job, to be part of something bigger. And if, as FIFA, we can contribute a little bit to changing just one life of one person, well, we will have already achieved our objective.”

Apart from three editions which were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Homeless World Cup has been played annually since the inaugural tournament in Graz, Austria, in 2003. The 2024 edition, the first to be staged in Asia, will see over 500 players from 49 countries across the globe taking part.

Mr Young said the signing of the MoU with FIFA was a “very, very important step” for the HWCF. “It means a lot to us. We’ve been a small organisation, working for many years with homeless people, and FIFA is the international federation of football,” he said. “By coming together with this MoU, we hope to have a much greater impact going forward. Football, as we know, has real power; power to create change. By bringing both together, we have the same understanding.”

Joining with FIFA would make the players feel important, he added. “Homeless people are excluded. Now, with the FIFA material there at the event, it makes them feel part of the football world, and it’s part of the rehabilitation that’s going on,” he said.

He explained that football’s role in helping the homeless was simple. “Around the world – we work in 70 countries – we take the ball to where homeless people are, we ask them to kick the ball. And anybody can kick a ball, whoever they are. You don’t have to be any good at it; it doesn’t matter what level you are at, but it makes you feel included,” he said.

“As soon as that happens, you’re taking someone from being invisible or marginalised or very low in confidence into a team environment where they can play together with others, and that’s the beginning of a process that brings about the change.”

In 80 per cent of cases, players had changed their lives forever after being involved. “[They] are not homeless anymore, so that’s the impact the ball can make, and it’s a really powerful force,” he said.

Taking part at the Homeless World Cup meant that people who were once marginalised took part in training sessions and had to get a passport, which meant getting identity papers. It was a journey.

“Most of them have never been on an aeroplane… so this is all new to them [on] that journey,” he said. “And then they arrive at our event, and then the journey goes on afterwards because they only play once. It’s the end of a process, and then they’re moving onto society afterwards.”