Here's a bit about the event from their website:
The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.
The first tournament took place in Graz 2003 uniting 17 national teams. At the 5th Homeless World Cup in Copenhagen this summer, 48 nations, 500 players were united for a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country. Melbourne is the host city for the next tournament from 1-7 December 2008.
The impact is consistently significant year on year with
73% of players changing their lives for the better by coming off drugs
and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting
with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro
or semi-pro football teams.
Even more than helping those directly involved in the program, the media attention this event can bring to certain teams can really spark discussion about homelessness in different countries. One of the more striking examples of this was Russia, where the Russian team was able to not only break some of the stereotypes of homelessness, but also prompted the founding of the Homeless Russian Cup. I'd highly recommend you watch this movie.
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