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England lost last year\u2019s final, but a new group of players hopes to claim the trophy. Image: Homeless World Cup<\/p>\nEngland lost last year\u2019s final, but a new group of players hopes to claim the trophy. Image: Homeless World Cup<\/p>\n
The road to get here is winding. Piri was homeless after losing a job, slept in night shelters and started playing football with New Horizons, a youth homelessness<\/a> organisation in North London. They put him onto this.<\/p>\n Football was a constant while he was homeless. \u201cFootball keeps me motivated, makes me happy and confident. I always try to find a session here or there to play,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very special role to represent something very big, to represent the country. You really have to feel proud to do it. I just feel happy to do it, to give my best, to contribute as much as I can to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Nineteen-year-old Prince, head fully in the game, wants to use the tournament as a springboard to a professional career. He plays as much as he can, in any format he can find.<\/p>\n He wouldn\u2019t be the first to make that daring run from the tournament to the big time. Championship club Queen\u2019s Park Rangers have just signed Richard Kone<\/a>, after a season which saw him bag 21 goals in League One. Kone got his start playing for Ivory Coast in the 2019 Homeless World Cup.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The football<\/a> on offer at the Homeless World Cup is streets away from the fare on offer with 11 players. Teams of four \u2013 three outfielders and a goalkeeper in an area nobody else can enter \u2013 battle it out over two seven-minute halves.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n I watch the team playing a practice match. The game moves back and forth across the pitch, coaches telling players to keep moving. A defence settles, the two men back holding hands as they try to stop the players in red shirts finding an opening. A loose touch gives the white bibs the ball, and with a ball roll and a couple of quick flicks they\u2019re through, blasting the ball at the keeper. It\u2019ll continue in this manner for 15 exhausting minutes in Oslo.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not stopping, even when you score,\u201d says Prince. \u201cYou can\u2019t stop. Your stamina level is going to be tested, your endurance level, your patience, your first touch, your decisiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll show them a different side of England. The good side.\u201d<\/p>\n Manager Craig McManus finds himself in a weird position \u2013 a Scotsman working tirelessly to ensure English sporting success. While homeless in his younger years, street soccer and the chance to play in the Homeless World Cup gave him something to work towards, kept him sane.<\/p>\n McManus played in the tournament himself, an opportunity to reconnect with his home city Glasgow. \u201cI ran away from the city, and I came back in a different place and a different person,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was just a really life-changing moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s that experience McManus is passing on to the team. The resilience for enduring homelessness can be an asset to players, but it is not such a simple narrative \u2013 part of his job is to make sure the pressure and bright lights of the tournament don\u2019t act as a trigger. \u201cThe tournament lasts 10 days, but this will be the platform for the rest of their lives,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Frankie is hoping the team can pick up the baton from the Lionesses. \u201cThey can inspire us as team England for the Homeless World Cup, but also the lions for the world cup next year,\u201d he says. \u201cThe team is very diverse, from different ethnicities, different colour skin. The message you need to tell is this is how we want England. We need to get away from racism, discrimination and all of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n And, perhaps one day, the journey will see Frankie cross paths with Lampard.<\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s helping people with disabilities.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s creating safer living conditions for renters.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s getting answers for the most vulnerable.<\/strong><\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Football_22.jpg\")
Football motivated Piri while homeless. Image: Homeless World Cup<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/How-many-kids-w-image-desktop.png\")
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19-year-old Prince hopes the tournament can carry him to a career in the game. Image: Homeless World Cup<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Football_16.jpg\")
Manager Craig McManus has been through the journey himself. Image: Homeless World Cup<\/p>\n