History
The Homeless World Cup organization was founded in 2001 by Mel Young and Harald Schmied while searching for an international language to unite homeless people around the world. They decided that football could act as this common ground.
The first annual football tournament for homeless people took place in 2003 in Graz, Austria. Host cities since then have included Gothenburg, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Melbourne, Milan, Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Mexico City will host the 2012 edition.
Along with the annual event, the Homeless World Cup is establishing itself as a social enterprise. The organization reports that over 70% of players engaged in the event changed their lives by beating addictions, moving into jobs, homes, training, education and repairing relationships. Some participants have also become social entrepreneurs, coaches and players.
To date, the Homeless World Cup has touched the lives of over 200,000 homeless people and created three legacy enterprises, operating in the sports equipment and recycling sectors.
Read more about this topic: Homeless World Cup
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)