Homeless World Cup reigning champions, Scotland, received a warm Australian welcome today as they enjoyed a training session under the watchful eye of the Australian national league’s Melbourne Victory FC coach and players at Melbourne’s Olympic Park Stadium.

Melbourne Victory Coach, Ernie Merrick, and player, Grant Brebner – who both hail from Scotland – joined their Captain and Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup ambassador, Kevin Muscat, in welcoming the Scotland team to Melbourne.

Scotland is one of 56 …

The Homeless World Cup tournament phase has begun; the teams have started arriving and pitch construction has commenced at Birrarung Marr.

The English team stepped off their long-haul flight on Saturday morning and headed straight for Healesville Sanctuary to meet some local wildlife.

They will be spending their first week in Melbourne visiting local schools involved in the Homeless World Cup Adopt-a-Team program, and training for the week-long soccer tournament.

The Scottish team, captained by Stephen Docherty, arrived late on Sunday night, and …

900 volunteers received training for their role at the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup last week. The three-hour sessions covered a huge amount of information including an introduction to the Operations team and their roles and what to expect from a Homeless World Cup. After the general introduction the volunteers broke away into smaller role specific training groups. The training sessions were run at Melbourne University where we were able to take full advantage of the lecture theatres made available …

National Coach George Halkias has selected eight homeless and marginalised people from across the country to have the honour of representing Australia as Street Socceroos at the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup.

Players have been selected from amongst hundreds of participants involved in a weekly street soccer program coordinated by The Big Issue. The ongoing National Street Soccer Program is supported by a …

Bunbury’s new community street soccer program for homeless and marginalised people is held its first “come and try” day from 3:30pm – 5.30 pm on Tuesday, November 18.

And no-one needed to be a soccer star to join in. Men and women of all ages and ability were invited to get down to The Recreation Ground in Bunbury, for a fun kick around.

Run by street magazine The Big Issue, the street soccer program gets together people who are homeless or marginalised for weekly training and matches.

The program uses physical activity as …

As part of the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup Cultural Festival, ACMI Cinemas at Federation Square will be screening two fantastic soccer movies. Both movies are documentaries that highlight the passion that soccer ignites round the world.

Both movies are FREE, reserve tickets through the ACMI Box Office.

Visit www.acmi.net.au for information on all ACMI screenings.

ACMI CInemasAustralian Centre for the Moving ImageFederation Square Melbourne

In the Hands of the Gods (M)

Sun 7 Dec 5.30pm

Benjamin and Gabe Turner, 106 mins, UK, 2007, Betacam. Source/Courtesy: Hopscotch…

Players from The Big Issue’s Street Soccer Program celebrated their achievements at the Sydney Best and Fairest Awards held at the Poolside Café at Andrew Boy Charlton Pool in Sydney on Tuesday night.

The Best and Fairest Awards celebrate the dedication and commitment of homeless and marginalised people, who are using the Street Soccer Program as a way of making positive changes in their lives.

Joining the players were special guests, the Federal Minister for Housing and Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek and SBS Presenter and Commentator, Les Murray. They praised the …

Busk for Change, a three day entertainment extravaganza and fundraiser for the , set Southbank on fire for an entire weekend. With all the money raised and artists time being donated, it was a chance for bands to make a difference and help to generate interest for the Homeless World Cup and its mission to change the lives of homeless people worldwide.

After a hazardous start with rain and wind on the …

The partnership begins with 20,000 euros funding from Women Win for the development of women’s grass roots football in Colombia, enabling Team Colombia to make its debut at the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup In addition, Women Win also initiates a Challenge Award of 5,000 euros that will be awarded to one of the community organisations participating in the Homeless World Cup in December to help them implement their ideas for sustainable programs for homeless girls and women in their home country.   As the partnership grows it will …

Players from The Big Issue’s Street Soccer Program in Brisbane celebrated their achievements at the Brisbane Best and Fairest Awards last night.

The Best and Fairest Awards celebrate the dedication and commitment of homeless and marginalised people, who are using the Street Soccer Program as a way of making positive changes in the lives.

Brisbane Roar FC player, Hyuk Su Seo, joined in the celebrations and he praised the spirit and dedication of players as they …