Homeless World Cup update

I am here with Mel Young and Alja Brglez in Davos and Mel tells me more about the Homeless World Cup I had already talked about. Mel is a Social Entrepreneur.

You should really learn the extraordinary mission Mel has set for himself to use sports as a method of inclusion.

Mel says:
"The second World Cup was Gothenburg in Sweden. It was very successful, 26 homeless teams took part. 40 000 people came and hundreds of media. The football was very exciting and Italy won. Many countries participated included South Africa, Namibia, Ukraine, Brasil, Argentina, USA, etc.

4 players who were homeless were hired as professional football players and 12 became associated with football, for example coaching. Some of them are actually teaching young people now.
It transforms them from a life being excluded to a life being recognized and it has a very deep impact and changes the whole outlook. They come away from it being full of confidence.
The people who watch also changed meeting them because they have a stereotyped view of the homeless.

The third upcoming World Cup was going to be held in New York, everything was setup and fantastic but it had to be cancelled because the US authorities could not guarantee that the vast majority of the players could get entry into the country.

The World Cup will still take place in July 2005 in Europe and the exact venue will be announced in two weeks and the third edition will be even bigger."

The great news is Mel Young just started his own blog.

Comments

[sandra]

I am happy that you put some pictures of the WEF in your blog. Having lived there for several years I have to say: nobody can imagine how much quiet Davos is changing during the WEF. It is the only time of the year, the magic mountain wakes up and gets an international atmosphere.